door again. And then, at a loss for something to do, she sat on the sofa, pulled a furry Mickey Mouse blanket up to her chin, and stared at the door.
She had convinced herself that the evil she had sensed in the laundry room the other night had been nothing more than the product of her imagination, but she knew now that it had been real. And that it had a name.
Alexi Kristov.
Chapter Six
Grigori walked swiftly down the stairs to the street, then paused on the sidewalk, all his senses alert.
"Alexi, show yourself." He whirled around as the sound of soft laughter was carried to him by a sudden gust of wind. "Alexi, damn you, show yourself!"
"I'm here."
Grigori spun around, his whole body tense, poised for attack.
A fine gray mist materialized out of the deep shadows of the night, then coalesced into the form of a man, a man Grigori recognized all too well.
"Alexi."
The count bowed from the waist. He looked like an old-world aristocrat in a full-sleeved white shirt open at the throat, tight black breeches, and soft black leather boots.
"Grigori, my old friend. We meet again."
Grigori nodded curtly. He had not felt fear in over a hundred years, not since the last time he had encountered Kristov.
Alexi's cold gray gaze ran over him, like ice running down his spine. "Will you never give up?"
"Never."
Mocking laughter rose in the count's throat. "I fear that foolish tenacity that you call honor will be the means of your destruction."
"Perhaps. How did you escape Silvano?"
A sound of derision rose in Kristov's throat. "An easy task, I assure you. I rested for a hundred years, closely guarded at all times so I had no worry of being destroyed." A cruel smile twisted his lips. "He was a fool to think he could hold me against my will. Stupid mortal. He paid dearly for his foolishness. Did you know Ramsey is in the city?"
Grigori nodded.
"I shall have you," Kristov said, his eyes glowing with confidence. "When I am ready, I shall have you both."
"No."
"Oh, yes," Alexi said with complete and utter assurance. He glanced up at Marisa's apartment and licked his lips. "And the woman, as well."
"No. Leave the woman alone. This is between you and me."
The count shook his head. "It was the scent of her sweet blood that roused me from my sleep. I will not rest again until I have had her, until her blood feeds my hunger and burns in my soul. She will serve me well, don't you think?"
"Let us end it now!"
"No, it is too soon. I feel the need for some amusement after my long rest, and you and Ramsey will provide it for me. And the woman - " Alexi licked his lips - "she will provide amusement of another kind."
"No!" A low growl rose in Grigori's throat as he lunged forward, his fangs bared, his hands like claws reaching for Alexi's throat. He felt a sharp pain as Kristov lashed out, his nails raking across Grigori's face, opening five deep lacerations that stretched from Grigori's hairline to his jaw.
Grigori shook his head, flinging the blood out of his eyes.
"Alexi!" He roared the vampyre's name, unleashing his pain and anger, but Kristov was gone as if he had never been there.
Swearing under his breath, he went back up the stairs to Marisa's apartment.
After asking who it was, she opened the door, her eyes widening in horror when she saw the blood dripping from his face. "Grigori, what happened?"
"Alexi happened."
"He was here?" She slammed the door and shot the bolt home.
"He's gone now."
"You're sure?"
Grigori nodded.
On legs that felt none too steady, Marisa made her way into the bathroom. Pulling a washcloth from the shelf, she soaked it in cold water, then went back into the living room. Grigori was sitting on the sofa, staring at the door.
Sitting beside him, she began to wipe the blood from Grigori's face. "You'll probably need stitches," she remarked, yet even as she watched, the deep gashes that scored his cheek began to close. It was like watching a film in fast forward, she thought, the way muscle and tissue knit together.
"This - " She stood up and backed away from him, the washcloth falling, unheeded, from her hand. "It isn't possible."
"I'm afraid it's very possible," Grigori replied.
"It's true, then," she murmured. "All true. Everything Ramsey told me. Everything he said."
"Are you all right?"
"I don't know." She stared at his face. "It's true, isn't it? You