He played the game because rejecting her was never wise. But he refused to kill his prey. In the old days, to his everlasting regret, she had compelled him to do so, but she no longer had that power over him.
“Don’t you miss it?” she asked as they left the scene of their last hunt. “The thrill of drinking it all? Absorbing every memory, every hope? Every drop? Listening to their heartbeat slowing, slowing, until they take their last breath? The power of it?”
“No.”
“You’ve always been a disappointment,” she muttered. “Stubborn. Honorable to a fault. I should have known you wouldn’t change.” She sighed dramatically. “I should have turned your brother Danil instead. He would have made a much better vampire. But you were the more handsome. And a better lover.”
“You seduced Danil?”
“Of course.”
“And Kolya? And Rolan?”
She shrugged. “How else was I to decide?”
Shocked by this revelation, Andrei stared at her. To his chagrin, a part of him couldn’t help being pleased that she had found him better in bed than his brothers. And then he sobered. Had she preferred one of the others, he would have died long ago.
They walked another block before she came to an abrupt halt. Andrei took another step and then he too came to a stop as he caught the scent of vampire on the evening breeze.
“Anyone you know?” Katerina asked.
Andrei shook his head, all his senses on high alert as the other vampire stepped out of the shadows. Of medium height, he had lank, brown hair and glittering gray eyes under shaggy brows.
“I am the master of this city.” The vampire’s malevolent gaze darted from Katerina to Andrei and back again. “You are not welcome here.”
“That’s not very friendly,” Katerina remarked.
“Neither is hunting in territory that isn’t yours.”
Andrei moved to one side as Katerina and the stranger squared off. The air pulsed with supernatural power as they took stock of each other in what Andrei often thought of as a paranormal test of strength. Between men, it would have been humorously called a pissing contest, but that hardly seemed fitting in the current situation.
He had no doubt that Katerina was the stronger of the two.
A moment later, he was proven right when Katerina’s power drove the other vampire several steps backward and then to his knees.
“I trust you won’t mind if we continue to hunt in your territory,” she drawled, her voice honey-sweet and threatening at the same time.
The master of the city inclined his head. “Please. Be my guests.”
Smirking, Katerina swept past him; then, as he lunged after her, she turned on her heel and ripped out his heart.
She looked at Andrei as she tossed the bloody organ aside, then knelt to wipe her hands on the dead vampire’s coat.
Face impassive, Andrei met her gaze.
And then they resumed the hunt.
Chapter Sixteen
“Jilly? It’s Tessa. I need someone to talk to.”
“Is something wrong?”
“You could say that.”
“How about if we get together after church?” Jilly asked. “Or maybe you don’t want to wait that long?”
“The sooner, the better.”
“Well, why don’t you come over now? I’ll put the coffee on.”
“Thanks, girlfriend. You’re the best.”
“Right,” Jilly said, chuckling. “See you soon.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I get dressed.”
It was a bleary-eyed Jileen who opened the door twenty minutes later. “Let’s talk in the kitchen,” she said, stifling a yawn. “What’s this all about?”
“Just when you think things can’t get worse,” Tessa muttered, taking a chair at the table by the window.
“They do,” Jilly said, finishing her thought. “What happened?”
“He has a wife.”
Suddenly wide awake, Jilly blinked at her. “He’s married?” She shook her head. “A married vampire. Well, that takes the cake.”
“He hasn’t seen her in centuries.”
“Centuries? Good Lord. Don’t tell me, she’s a vampire too?”
Tessa nodded.
Jilly filled two cups with coffee, then dropped into the chair on the other side of the table. “So, why did she show up now?”
“She’s looking for me. But she doesn’t know it’s me she’s looking for.”
“For you? Why? Oh, the blood thing.” Jilly shook her head. “I can’t imagine why yours is different from anyone else’s.”
“Me either. But that’s only part of it.”
“There’s more?” Jilly sipped her coffee.