Bloodspell (The Cruentus Curse, #1)(12)

Christian went flying back three feet before crashing to the hard asphalt. He was on his feet in seconds.

"What the hell was that?" he said. She was frozen in shock.

"I have no idea," she said, then immediately contrite, she asked, "I'm so sorry. Are you hurt?"

"No." His voice was flat, cold.

"Well, you're the one who asked for it," she said, hiding her horror and remorse behind a show of bravado. She wasn't sure whether to kick him or apologize. And now, blast it, he knew that she could do things—strange, freakish things that would no doubt have him running in the opposite direction.

Only he wasn't running ... he was staring at her with an odd, appraising expression. He stepped forward, his face relaxed but wary, his fingers barely brushing a tendril of hair that curled into her face.

"Don't worry, Tori, your secret is safe with me." He paused, as if considering his next move. "I'll forgive you on one condition."

"What's that?" she asked, stunned into silence by his gentle caress.

"Dinner. Saturday night."

"You're asking me on a date?"

"I would say tomorrow but my back just isn't up to it," he said, deliberately misunderstanding her question and pressing his hands into his lower back. He grimaced. Almost immediately, he saw the guilty flush steal up to her cheeks and he knew she would agree, if only out of misplaced remorse.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because we got off on the wrong foot, and I'd like to make amends."

The velvety tone of his voice was back and Victoria could feel herself melting in response to it. His reflective eyes were intense, compelling. She'd never wanted to say yes so badly to anything in her life! She tore her eyes away. A date, or anything that required proximity, would be disastrous! It wasn't that she didn't trust him, she didn't trust herself. Already her legs felt like water.

"I don't think it's such a good idea ..." she began.

"Why not?"

"I barely know you."

"So this is a way for us to get to know each other."

"I don't—"

Christian didn't hesitate. "Don't you think you owe me just a little?" She stared at him hard. The expression in his eyes didn't flicker for an instant.

"Fine, Saturday then!" she said, capitulating not at all gracefully, flouncing into her car and slamming the door. As she drove off, she didn't deign to look back but could hear his laughter in her head all the way down to the end of the drive. Damn him!

CHRISTIAN WATCHED THE car's retreating lights and smiled. She'd resisted his compulsion easily but he didn't mind doing whatever it took to get what he wanted. In more than a hundred and fifty years no one had been able to catch him off-guard, far less knock him off his feet. If it were as instinctive as he had initially thought, then he had seriously misjudged her abilities. The thought of Lucian rose unbidden in his mind, and he shoved it away. He knew exactly what Lucian would do with her.

He took out his cell phone and turned it between his fingers, his face brooding. Christian remembered the touch of her fingers on his own and the electricity that had coursed between them. He'd barely been able to contain himself, and all he could think about was placing his lips in the delicate curve of her neck, taking and taking until he couldn't take any more. The thought of it had almost driven him to his knees. Very deliberately, Christian placed the cell phone back into his pocket.

Everything in him knew that it was a mistake. He should call Lucian, and let him assess the threat, because now he knew without a doubt that there was one. Her power was too raw ... too dangerous.

He should walk away before he was pulled any deeper or jeopardized far more than just himself. But still, even as he thought the words, a part of him recognized that it was too late. Far too late.

They would already know.





SHE SHOULD HAVE said no. But if she was really being honest with herself, she had wanted to say yes. When they touched, she'd been shocked by the connection between them. Victoria had known there was something there—she'd felt that spark from the moment they had first met that day in the Admissions Office.

Yet, despite the fact that Christian Devereux was so charismatic and made her heart race, something felt wrong. When he looked at her with those eerie light eyes of his, she felt rattled and on edge. Not to mention what she'd done to him just by thinking about it. Her throat tightened at the memory. Her palms tingled and she felt a familiar heaviness stir in the pit of the belly, the same sensations she'd fought months ago, the ones she'd thought were dead and gone.

Embrace it.

Victoria almost jumped out of her skin as the phantom thought invaded her head. Exhaustion was making her remember things that she'd prefer remain ancient history. She shook it off and sighed, leaning back against the sofa and watching Leto lying on the top edge of the cushions. She stroked his ears as he watched her intently out of one eye, and resorted to her familiar means of making sense of her feelings.

"I don't know why I said yes," she murmured to him. "He's arrogant, and rude, and irritating." She sighed, a soft smile on her lips turning onto her side to face Leto. "But you should hear him on the piano, he's amazing. Reminded me of New York." Leto curled his head into her palm. "Mom would have loved hearing him." Her words slowed. "Maybe that's why I said yes. Anyone who plays like that can't be all bad, right?"