A Girls Guide to Vampires(123)

I tipped my head back so I could see his beautiful face, untangling my fingers from his hair to touch a raw spot on his lip. "I bit you, too. If you were a Dark One, this would be the final step of Joining."

One sable brow rose in question.

"A blood exchange." I smiled at his look of disbelief, and allowed him to lower my legs to the ground. Raphael tucked himself away, and I was just shaking my skirt down when a sharp sound started at one end of the cave and rolled past us, building in noise.

Someone was applauding.

"Christ," Raphael snarled, turning around as he did up his pants, blocking me with his body. I sent up a silent prayer that whoever it was hadn't seen us in action as I tucked my blouse back into my skirt, making sure it wasn't bunched up anywhere before peeking over Raphael's shoulder.

"Mon ange, I knew you had passion, but you surpass my expectations. Such fire! Such zest! I particularly enjoyed how your body arched against Raphael's at le petit mort. I believe we would have been well mated."

Oh my God, it was Dominic! And he had watched us! My skin crawled with revulsion even as anger surged within me. How dare he taint something wonderful and beautiful between Raphael and me with his slimy foulness? What we did was private, between the two of us, and although we might have celebrated our love in an inappropriate place, that still gave him no right to intrude. I hit the back of Raphael's shoulder, more than a little surprised that he wasn't roaring with anger at the invasion of our privacy, but it wasn't until I stepped around him to give Dominic a piece of my mind that I saw why he was so still.

Dominic was pointing a very large gun at us. Next to him stood a silent Milos.

"What are you doing here? You were doing your magic show!" I sputtered.

"All good things, ma chère, must come to an end," Dominic said with one of his showy bows before waving the gun toward Raphael. "Sadly, that includes you as well as the curious Mr. St. John."

I glanced at Raphael. He looked like Dominic was boring him to death. I felt better immediately.

"You will both come with me now, Raphael in front, mon ange nearest me. Milos will follow. We will proceed that way to the boats, yes?"

"Boats?" I asked, scooting closer to Raphael. He didn't move a muscle, just watched Dominic with eyes so dark they were almost brown. "You want to go for a boat ride now? I thought we were going to do that later? I'm a bit busy now, so maybe I'll take a rain check on that. Raphael and I were… uh… just… um…"

Dominic snickered. "Mon ange, it was quite apparent what you and Raphael were doing. Now, if you are quite finished, the boats are waiting."

Milos eyed me coldly and turned to say something to Dominic. I used the opportunity to glare at Raphael. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"Well, you could help!"

"I thought you wanted to be the one to help me," he said mildly, apparently unconcerned that we were held at gunpoint by a deranged madman who thought he was a vampire, and his equally cold-blooded accomplice.

"That was then. This is now. I'd appreciate it if you did something."

"Like what?"

I pinched his arm. "Save us!"

"Ah. How?"

I threw up my hands in disgust. "You're the one who has the gun!"

Milos and Dominic both stopped whispering and looked at us.

"I don't have it on me," Raphael told them.

They didn't believe him. Dominic waved me to the side, his gun a few feet away from my breast while Milos patted Raphael down. Once they determined he was gunless, Dominic gestured me toward the way I had come earlier.

"As to your question, our boat ride must be canceled," he said, reaching for me. I slid away and ran for Raphael. "It is a shame, but you will have instead the most tragic accident when you are shot by mistake. I, of course, will be saddened that you were killed in an attempt to stop Raphael from strangling you, but what am I to do?" He shrugged. "The police will have their murderer—a dead one—and I will mourn the loss of mon ange chéri. All will end well."

"You're going to kill us?" I don't know why I was surprised after seeing what he'd done to Tanya. Maybe both of them did it, I certainly wouldn't put it past Milos, what with the unwholesome look of excitement in his eyes. "Why? What have we ever done to you?"

"It is so," Dominic answered my first question. "Raphael has been too diligent in his investigation into our alibis for the murders of the women Milos and I have enjoyed. We cannot allow him to interest the police in our matters. Already he has gone too far. He almost caught me last night, before I was able to dispose of dear Tanya's remains to my satisfaction. I was not able to leave the damning clues as I had wanted."