“Yes, I requested you here because we need to clear up a few things. I’m hoping it won’t take too long to clear it all up and all be on the same page.” George tried to sound professional and keep his dislike from shading the tone of his words. As far as George knew, currently he didn’t have proof that Maximus lied about his whereabouts and his alibi at the time of Mary’s murder. But Maximus was an artificial as any creature could be. His image possessed several cracks that George could see, and it didn’t endear him to George in any way. “What do we need to clear up between us? How many things do we have problems with?” Maximus, of course, played dumb to George’s words and meaning. “I’ve had several complaints about you and your treatment of others. No, no. I’m not done yet. They range from the serving caste all the way up to the ambassador herself. Now I know right now we have no way of replacing you. So instead o
Adriana met George an hour later at her apartment door and with an umbrella in hand, George escorted her to the Phantom and opened the door for her to enter. “I think this is the first time I’ve had the chance to ride in a car.” “Yes, well, this is the New Phantom. They only arrived on the market. It’s supposed to be greatly improved from the Silver Ghost model. So it should be an entirely new experience.” George stated as he closed the umbrella with a shake and followed her into the limousine’s dark interior. George knocked on the partition between the driver and them. A moment later, they were moving. Adriana’s eyes were wide in surprise as their speed steadily built. “Well, I didn’t expect it to go this fast. We’ll be there in no time. Why didn’t someone think of making something like this before?” George couldn’t help but smile. He’d been able to acquire the vehicle through a channel, somethi
Maximus left the office with as much dignity as he could possibly muster, but he stormed down the corridor and left the building. Frustrated as he went to his vehicle, he took his claw and punctured the tire of the vehicle George acquired. Let George explain why the vehicle can’t move when the princess wanted to leave. That was Maximus’ idea of how things should go. This wasn’t good enough for Maximus’ petty nature. He needed to release his emotions and rebel a little or a lot. With a smile that didn’t reach his cold, dead eyes, Maximus drove to the red-light district of the closest city. He wanted to have some mindless fun before returning to his work. He found a gin joint that was hopping with life. He parked across the street from the gin joint and ran through the rain to get to the club’s entrance. The music was loud, the glitz and the glam was over the top. It was teeming with life. Everyone there was looking for the time of their lives. Maximus knew for sur
George finally found a sheltered overhang to a building, but not before the rain finally came to a stop. He needed to look at her injury without the rain and with something more than the moonlight. He winced as soon as he saw her temple. The accident happened several minutes ago, and Ana hadn’t healed yet. George knew this wasn’t good. She probably didn’t feed regularly in the last few weeks because Mary wasn’t there with her. Food and drink laced with blood could sustain them for a short time, but it did nothing for them if they were injured. She needed more blood to heal. There were no humans near George was aware of and their driver wasn’t any benefit, as he was dead. George couldn’t be upset at the driver for being so fragile. But currently, his death created more difficulties. Now he wasn’t sure by the vacant look in her eyes if he could get her to their new residence and their feeders there. A phone would help, but the one he
George watched as the wound on Ana’s head healed before his eyes and he relaxed a little. Now he needed to deal with Ana and the feelings his blood evoked in her. There was no way he could hide how he felt from her now. This bond was one-sided, and he couldn’t feel her emotions. To feel them, he would need to close the bond and drink from her. That was going too far and treading too closely to mating with someone outside of your caste. At least, he had a reason for this partial bond and Ana might skate through any prosecution if anyone discovered she fed from him. She’d been injured, and he needed her healed so that he could get her to safety. That was the next thing on his list. Ana clung to him while he tried to lead her down the road again. “We need to get to our destination now. It’s not far, but neither is the sunrise. Come, let’s get back to walking.” He pulled her along even as Ana protested and complained
Now she understood what the stories meant when they spoke of an obsessive fascination with the vampire you drank from. She could feel his emotions, and all she wanted to do was thank him for caring. Ana felt like he was the first person she’d ever had in her corner. It felt eye opening, the concern he felt over so much. It felt so heavy and weighing down, that hurt her heart to know that. Someone she could trust that wasn’t something she’d squander lightly. “Ambassador, I have Heidi here to help get you to your new rooms. She says everything is ready for you. I must go deal with a security issue before I can retire for the night. I’ll look in on you after I’m done.” Heidi gave George an odd look. It wasn’t appropriate for him to do that. But at this point, he needed to know that she was safe and looked after properly. George gave Heidi the look to just go with him on this. She could believe he was lying about it. Or she could repor
Ana was slowly beginning to feel more like herself. The blood worked to help her heal, but the ability to feel his emotions and her own would throw anyone a little off at any time. But with a head injury, she felt overwhelmed. The need to question who felt what was a little confusing, but it told her one thing that she didn’t need to know. If they hadn’t already kissed before, it would have blindsided her. But his feelings about her were a lot stronger than she expected. Now she was trapped with this knowledge and couldn’t do anything about it. She couldn’t talk to anyone for fear it might be overheard or repeated to the wrong person. George was trapped in her world now, even if no one knew about the connection between them. “Ambassador, do you need assistance preparing to sleep? Perhaps a nightcap?” Heidi wasn’t offering to make her a drink. This was a polite way to ask if Adriana needed to feed.
Ana leaned against the door after she closed it. This was the first time she’d ever been curious about what a male looked like without clothes on. Really without clothes on, not just removing his shirt while he trained. George probably didn’t know that she’d secretly watched him train in that state of undress. But now Ana wanted to peel it all away and see everything up close and personal. Have the entire experience. “What am I thinking? Am I going mad? That would be suicide.” She spoke the words the little angel on her right shoulder chanted. But on her left shoulder stood an equally loud devil, telling her step-by-step instructions on what to do with him. It was enough to make her blush if she could. Her head injury truly must be worse than she thought if she could contemplate such risky behaviour. Had her father sent her here with George to test her limits and weed her from the offspring waiting for the throne?