Sensual Danger (Venice Vampyr #4)

Had he not been so close to his own climax, he would have stayed and tried to find out why she was crying, but male pride had made him flee so he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of her like a green kid who’d never had a woman.

Still, the moment he’d reached his bedchamber and opened the flap of his trousers, he’d spilled into his own hand with only one single thrust into his fist. So much for his legendary control! One day of marriage, and he had turned into a complete and utter fool. What had made him think even for one minute that taking his wife on the dining table was a good idea? It was the way he took a whore, not a lady like her! But when she’d defied him by driving her heel into his foot, he’d seen red. That he hadn’t taken out his aching cock and fucked her with it, was a miracle in itself. But what would happen next time? Would he rape her? No, he couldn’t allow that to happen.

There was no way to mend what he’d done already, he was sure. And he didn’t want to face this now, so he was glad that he had other things to think about right now.

Nico reached Marcello’s house after negotiating several corners and tied the gondola to the covered dock. Then he dashed inside, not wanting to remain outside any longer, even though the rays of the late afternoon sun were already dipping behind the neighboring houses.

Marcello’s house was more a palace than a house. Bordering on a small canal on one side, it stood four stories tall. It was flanked by smaller houses on each side, and its front opened to a small piazza. Marcello employed a number of servants to maintain the house. All of them were humans. However, they came from families who’d worked for him for generations, their loyalty beyond question. In exchange, they lived privileged lives—no servant in Venice received better food, better clothing, or better accommodations than Marcello’s.

Nico allowed the footman to take his cloak and followed him as he ushered him upstairs. Surprised, Nico raised an eyebrow. Normally Marcello received his visitors downstairs, rather than in his private rooms.

“Ah, there you are, always the last,” Marcello’s deep voice boomed from the open door to his private study as Nico stepped over the threshold. “Even though today you have a good excuse: I’m sure it wasn’t easy to pull your prick out from between the clenching thighs of your blushing bride.”

Raucous laughter followed. Everybody was assembled: Silvano, Francesco, the brothers Dante and Raphael, Lorenzo, Andrea, Carlo, Paolo, Enrico, and of course Marcello himself. And not an eye remained dry as all of them laughed about Marcello’s raunchy comment.

Not wanting to give his friends any reason to believe that his wedding night hadn’t gone according to plan and that his marriage was already in shambles, Nico shut the door behind him and added, “What if it wasn’t her cunny I was having trouble disentangling myself from? What if her lips were so tightly sealed around my prick that I couldn’t pull out for fear she would bite me if I left her?”

He should be so lucky, he thought, as his friends erupted in yet another round of laughter. A woman like her would never suck his cock. She’d never debase herself like that. After all, she was a well-bred woman, and he was as debauched as they came. He couldn’t even get her to accept marital relations; teaching her to enjoy other diversions such as sucking his insatiable cock would be an impossible feat. It was best to accept the inevitable and admit that his wife was disgusted with him.

“But enough of the fun and games,” he heard Marcello cut through his thoughts. “We have a serious matter to discuss.”

Everybody looked expectantly at Marcello. Nico leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest, curious why Marcello had demanded this meeting, which after all, was taking place in broad daylight.

“My spies have heard of a vicious rumor. Apparently somebody in this city has come up with a contraption, some sort of device that makes it possible to identify vampires.”

Nico dropped his arms to the side, his body hardening and straightening instantly. Air rushed from his lungs, and he took another breath. He noticed the same sort of reaction in his fellow vampires. Shock rippled through them.

“How can that be?” Dante asked.

“Are you sure?” Raphael added.

Marcello nodded gravely. “You all know that my spies are reliable. I bloody well pay them enough. I believe it to be true. This rumor has been circulating over the past week and only just came to my spies’ ears. And if we know about this, then it’s safe to assume the Guardians know about it too.”

“And they’ll want the machine,” Nico added calmly, even though he felt agitated. If the Guardians of the Holy Waters, a secret society of Venetian men who wanted to eradicate vampires, got hold of a means to detect vampires more easily, it would put them all in danger.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Andrea threw in.