A Taste of Twilight by Aubrey Ross Page B

the sofa, his movements smooth and restrained. “After my transformation, we traveled for many years. We came across Etoro in Venice. It was a magnificent city in the height of its splendor. Etoro was a musician at one of the balls we attended. Time had not been kind to him while I had thrived and flourished. He wanted to know how I’d remained so young, so healthy. I did my best to evade his questions, but Etoro was determined to learn the source of my vitality.”
    “How did he find out what you’d become?”
    “He followed me for weeks until he caught me feeding. I didn’t recognize his obsession until it was too late. I’d only been a vampire for eleven years, so my powers were still developing.”
    After eleven years his powers were still developing? Time obviously passed differently for vampires. “What did he do?”
    “He threatened to reveal what I was if I didn’t transform him.” His tone was even, conversational. Did the events no longer affect him, or was he remaining calm for her benefit?
    “Reveal it to whom? It wasn’t like they had cameras back then. Wouldn’t it have been his word against yours?”
    “People were different then. Superstition and political unrest made for a volatile combination. Italy escaped the worst of it, but the Inquisitors in Spain executed thousands for refusing to convert to the ‘true faith’. What do you think such people would have done with a man who didn’t age?”
    Jessie enjoyed reading about history, studying the customs and developments of different eras. Rafe had experienced the evolution of humanity. He’d survived wars and witnessed the rise and fall of societies. It gave her chills just thinking about all he’d experienced.
    She drew her thoughts back to Etoro. “Did you transform him?”
    “I couldn’t have if I’d wanted to. My own transformation wasn’t complete.” He paused, his lips pressed into a tight line. “Faelon refused to be manipulated by threats, but more importantly, he sensed an imbalance in Etoro that made him unwilling to even consider triggering the change.”
    “Well, I know Etoro is a vampire now, so who transformed him?”
    “A female named Cecilia. She was once Faelon’s mate.” He raked his hands through his hair and rushed on before she could distract him with more questions. “When Faelon forced Etoro to look elsewhere for transformation, we became the enemy.”
    She released a shuddering breath. Logic, routine and instinct were as important to her as her gun, yet she was completely out of her element right now. Vampires are real. She repeated the words until her brain stopped rejecting them. “What does Etoro want with me? You didn’t even know me until tonight. How does he intend to use me in this ongoing battle?”
    “I have lots of suspicions, just nothing I can prove. Faelon will be able to tell us more.”
    “You’re going to take me to Faelon?” The vampire’s unrelenting features and piercing eyes flashed through her memory.
    “He knows more about Etoro than anyone else alive. Etoro enjoys antagonizing me, but he despises Faelon.”
    She inclined her head and carefully guarded her thoughts. There was no way in hell she was going to let this happen. Faelon had enslaved Rafe, offered him up to his wife bound in chains. A heated tingle skittered down her spine. It was so easy to picture herself in Rafe’s place, restrained and helpless as Rafe lowered his mouth to her pussy.
    “When do we leave?” She cleared her throat, ridding her tone of its hushed purr. “Does he still live in Italy?”
    Rafe didn’t reply, so she looked at him. Shit! His eyes glowed with golden fire and he slowly licked his lips. “If you step beyond the shields without me, you will learn what it means to be helpless. This is not a game.”
    Calm, quiet, lethal, his tone belied the intensity in his gaze. “How do I know that?” She pushed to her feet and crept around the glass-topped coffee table. “Faelon and Antonelli are