Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,22

slid closed, and I lowered my gaze to her message.

Look in his fridge

5

Beast blared to life as the doors opened on Level 61.

“Yello,” I said.

“Miss Tetley,” Kyros said.

I ignored the ugly emotion that accompanied the two words. “Yeah?”

“You’re not feeling well. Please come to my quarters.”

His quarters? Such a vampire prince thing to say.

“Uh, I’d prefer to be alone.” I didn’t want to see Kyros until I decided how to handle Fernando.

“I will care for you, true mate.”

That was a crock of shit! Though his emotions didn’t negate the comment… However, the rod of steel beneath the warmth made it clear he’d issued an order.

Fucknuts.

“That’d be nice,” I said flatly, spinning on my heel to return to the elevator. Damn it all, part of me meant the words.

Kyros knowing my location forevermore may cramp my long-term style, but this emotional bullshit was twice as bad. Yes, I got to listen in on his feelings, but to have someone to have the means of deciphering what I meant all the time? Humans didn’t do that. I spoke a quarter of what I thought—or less. I’d be more comfortable with my legs wide open, and Kyros in the front row sketching a likeness than this bullshit.

I jabbed Level 65 and waited for the inevitable ding that I love-hated.

My brain raced as I considered my next move.

Four floors were barely long enough to scrape a plan together.

Turning right out of the elevator, I dragged my feet to the very end of the hall, scowling at the double doors to Kyros’s private office.

I barged in—he could both hear and feel me coming.

Shoot. Just knowing I’d be in his company made my fingers tingle. My breath came fast, my body betraying me, and betraying my dignity at the same time. I couldn’t even remember all the times Kyros had lied or hurt me at this stage.

Saved and protected me.

Shouted.

Held me in his arms.

Intimidated.

Held himself back.

He sat in his office chair. “Basilia. How are you faring?”

“Mr Sundulus,” I replied in a grave voice. “Thank you. I’ve been better.”

Kyros cut off his focus on the three screens before him and shifted his gaze to me. “That’s not my last name.”

Oh. “It’s not?”

“My last name is Smith.”

My jaw dropped. “You’re kidding—”

He flashed his teeth.

“—you are kidding.” I couldn’t stop the surprised laughter from breaking free. “That would be hilarious though.”

“Atagio,” Kyros said, switching off the monitors.

Kyros Atagio.

I hummed, unsure what to make of what sounded very like a get to know each other conversation.

He stretched to his full height, and my mouth dried as I took in his suit-clad specimen of a body. Someone needed to freeze that shit so the future could enjoy the view. I wanted his body hovering over me. Lying beneath me. Crushing me against a wall.

His voice jolted me to the present. “Congratulations on securing 9C Joker. That house has eluded us for a long time. Unsure why. It’s barely remaining upright.”

The house hadn’t eluded them. The people owning the house had.

The vampire prince flipped back the password panel and jabbed in his long-ass code.

I ambled to the entrance of his lair, my thoughts on the avalanche of other issues between us. “Memories.”

Kyros cut me a look. “What?”

“Memories are why people can’t let go. Money can’t buy everything.”

He studied my face, pressing a warm hand against the small of my back to direct me up the stairs. I let it stay there, desperate for the contact and hating myself for it.

“Money can buy most things,” he answered.

For a Vissimo, perhaps. Vampires existed on the brink of death. Their priorities—surviving, winning, protecting, and ensuring their bloodline grew, those things weren’t always important to humans because we weren’t constantly primed for a battle. Ours was a slower, less intense existence. Things that Vissimo accepted without batting an eyelash, I struggled to come to terms with or accept without a moral fight. I wouldn’t have said their values were unethical or even immoral per se. Just that their values were streamlined and gave the appearance of ruthlessness. If humans were a tree branch teeming with leaves, Vissimo were that same branch whittled to a spear.

“Lower door,” Kyros murmured.

As soon as the door clicked shut at our backs, he halted me on the stairs. “Who is it?”

Dang it.

“Inconclusive. I laid a pretty good trap, but the results were too vague to be sure. I won’t give you a name without being certain.”

His green eyes flared. “You’re lying.”

Yep.

I climbed the last few steps and pushed the top door