say what we both knew: no master vamp, much less a Senate member, would discuss anything with a mere servant. Her life would be planned out for her, and she'd be informed of it when the time was right. "Is that how you knew Tony had found me? Did your people tell you?"
Mircea gave a rueful smile. "No, you were fortunate there. Antonio ordered a gunman to put two bullets in your brain by midnight, but Raphael overheard it and called me. I gave him my protection and told him to come here. I had had concerns about Antonio for some time, but doing away with a third-level master, even if he is one's servant, requires finesse. But if he actually went against my direct orders and made an attempt on your life, I could legally kill him for disobedience. I relayed the information about you to the Senate, who had assigned Tomas to you since the sybil's disappearance. In case they had trouble reaching him, I also contacted some associates of mine in Atlanta, but they had difficulty locating you. By the time they arrived at your office, you had gone."
"You could have picked up a freaking phone, Mircea!"
"I did try to call you, dulceaţă, at your home and at your place of employment. But you did not answer. In any case, you gave us quite a scare. My associates became involved in an altercation with four vampires Rasputin had sent after you. By the time they had disposed of them, you and Tomas had already encountered the assassins Antonio dispatched. Fortunately, you dealt with them quite handily on your own."
I was back to being confused. "You mean nine vamps were after me that night?!" I couldn't believe I'd survived. Master vampires had been taken out with less. "But, if Tony and Rasputin are allies, why send two hit squads?"
Mircea smiled. "Now you are merely stalling. The short version is that Antonio sent five ninth- or tenth-level vampires to kill you as soon as he discovered where you were. When Rasputin heard what he had done, he dispatched four masters to back them up. He is wiser, I think, than Antonio. He knew that the Senate would have put guardians on you and wanted to make sure that you did not survive. You are the only power that can oppose his actions successfully, dulceaţă. He knows this."
My head was spinning. "So Tony's hit squad went to the club, and yours and Rasputin's went to the office after I left? Then who left the message on my computer?"
"What message?"
I shook my head. This was getting way too complex for me. "Never mind. What you're basically saying is that everyone is after me?"
Mircea did not answer because that dark head had gone back to work, licking a path up my inner thigh. His tongue was hot against my skin and his lips were velvet. "I do not know about everyone, dulceaţă, but I certainly am. And now, enough talk." He smiled at me wickedly. "It is time you paid in full."
Chapter 13
I tried to think of another question quickly, but it was difficult, especially when his hands clasped my buttocks and he lifted me upward. His tongue finally reached its goal and I gasped. He ran it over me slowly, exploring my shape, memorizing my taste, before suddenly plunging inside as far as it would go. I screamed and arched against him, helpless to do anything else, and he drank me in. I felt the beginnings of something building in me, something huge, but before it completely tore my senses away, Mircea lifted himself away.
I wanted to scream in frustration, but his lips sealed over mine and I forgot. I ran my hands along that silken skin, tracing down his spine, past his ribs to the cleft between those beautiful buttocks. He shuddered over me, and the feeling of him firm and hot against my stomach was almost overpowering. I wanted him inside me more than I had ever wanted anything, with an almost unbearable need. But when I felt a hard, hot weight settle between my legs, I pushed at his chest. "No, Mircea—you promised."
He laughed low in his throat, and kissed my neck. "I will be good, dulceaţă." Before I could say that that was what was worrying me, he dragged that heavy weight along the full length of my sex, not penetrating, but coming teasingly close. I was wet and aching for him, and I didn't think it