Chapter Fourteen
Isabella looked up quickly as a black blur appeared before her in Holt Cemetery. She braced herself for the attack. Otto and Ernie stopped in their tracks also aware of something approaching. Breath left her body as the attacker bumped into her and then swept her off her feet. Isabella pounded it with her fists until it appeared.
“Alesandro,” she shouted. “You scared the shit out of me.”
Otto and Ernie moved closer to protect her but Isabella raised her hands to stop them. “I’m okay.”
The dapper-dressed master vampire looked down on her with those startling purple eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay? I thought you were in danger.”
Alesandro lowered her slowly in a way that forced her to slide down his six foot frame. “Why are you here?”
“I heard you scream and thought you were in danger.”
Ernie chuckled but she cut him off with a scathing look.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Were you lurking somewhere nearby?”
“I do not lurk,” he said with a pout. “No, I was at my place.”
“That’s several miles away,” Ernie replied.
Alesandro rolled his eyes at Ernie and then put his attention back on Isabella, looking down at her oddly. “I distinctly heard the terror in your voice. What frightened you so?”
At the moment he did. She didn’t like the way he looked at her. How did he hear her scream and why did he come to see about her? The man before her was very confusing. “It was nothing.”
“I knew you wouldn’t tell me the truth.” He turned to Ernie. “You’re her partner—what happened?”
Ernie straightened up appearing not a bit intimidated by the vampire. “A grasshopper hopped on her,” he said trying to hide his chagrin.
“It did not hop on me; you tossed it on me,” Isabella replied angrily.
Alesandro looked absolutely appalled. “A what?”
“A grasshopper,” Ernie repeated. “Bella’s terrified of them.”
Isabella rolled her eyes at Ernie and Otto who was trying to stifle a chuckle. “Thanks, partner, for telling a master vampire that I’m afraid of an insect.”
Alesandro tried to hide his smile but then turned serious. “You mean I interrupted my date and broke the sound barrier coming to your defense for an insect?”
He was on a date? How come it did not set right with her? Isabella shrugged.
“I would be absolutely mad at you if I didn’t find this very endearing,” Alesandro said, moving toward her.
Even in the dark cemetery she could make out his handsome good looks. What was the scent he was wearing? Passion? “You can return to your date.”
“He’s not going anywhere,” Alesandro assured her.
Isabella’s mouth opened but she didn’t comment. He?
“Are you surprised?” Alesandro asked inside her head.
Isabella pushed him away from her. “I thought I told you to stay out of my head.”
Ernie pulled her toward him protectively. “He can read your thoughts?”
Alesandro did not miss the move and eyed Ernie like he wanted to kill him for touching her. “At times,” he answered for Isabella.
“Let me get this right. You heard her scream tonight, but you did not hear her when she was nearly killed by a vampire? A vampire who was looking for you?”
Alesandro moved quickly and snatched her from Ernie. He ran his eyes over her like an x-ray machine. “Lucius said you were okay. Was he mistaken? Did Daton hurt you?”
“Only my pride,” Isabella replied, trying to get out of his grasp. “Who the hell is he anyway?”
“An old enemy,” Alesandro said, releasing her. “He was the one who...” He stopped the explanation. “Never mind. I will take care of him.”
“No need to,” Isabella replied.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s dust,” Ernie answered. “She took his head.”
“Ouch,” Alesandro replied. “No!”
Isabella nodded. What was one more dead vampire to her? King Adjatay already had a contract on her head for trying to kill Darius, Zolin, and Alesandro. What was one more?
“You know Adjatay lifted the contract,” Alesandro told her, still reading her mind.
He was back inside her head again. “You keep telling me this and assassins are still trying to kill me.”
“Forget all about that for now. You actually killed Daton?”
Isabella nodded. “I don’t play around, Alesandro. That bastard would have killed both Ernie and me.”
“How did you allow yourself to be trapped by him anyway?”
Isabella lowered her head. “I guess I was careless, but it will never happen again.”
“This is so not like you, Bella. I cannot protect this town if I have to worry about you.”
If he were a normal man she would feel flattered. “Nobody asked you to. I can take care of myself. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
The earth shook violently as she prepared to walk away from him.
“We need to get to safety,” Ernie shouted. “Earthquake!”
Isabella’s feet slipped from beneath her but she did not fall to the ground. She landed gently into Alesandro’s arms. He glared at her. “Something is definitely wrong with your abilities,” he said rudely.
Something pushed through the ground and rose before them before she could smart back at him. “What the hell?” Isabella asked.
“I don’t like the looks of this,” Alesandro said to Ernie and Otto as they hurried over and stood by him. “Shit.”
“Who is that?” Ernie asked.
“Your worst nightmare,” Alesandro answered.
“We’ll protect you, Isabella,” Ernie replied.
Isabella clasped her hand over her mouth and then removed them. “No! Alesandro, zap Ernie and Otto out of here—quickly.”
The master vampire sent the two psychics away with a swish of one hand before they could protest. Alesandro pulled Isabella to him protectively. “Do not say a word,” he whispered into her head. “Or it may be your last.”