"Small world," someone said to my right.
I turned, noticing a cute blonde staring at me. "Excuse me?"
"You don't remember me?" She shook her head. "It was a while ago. I wasn't even sure it was you until you snapped at that woman, but your coloring stands out. Plus, you were antsy the first time we met, too."
From her accent, she was American. And I'd never seen her before in my life.
"I'm sorry, you have the wrong person." After all, I was good at placing people. Half-vampire memory skills, and it had come with my old job.
"It was at the Ritz on Place Vendome, remember?" I still shook my head. She sighed. "No big deal. Sorry it didn't work out with the other guy, but you seem to have traded up, so good for you."
"Huh?"
Now I was wondering if she was crazy. Sonya moved closer to me. The girl dabbed powder on her nose before tucking her compact back in her purse.
"You looked way too young to get married anyway, so I don't blame you - "
"Huh?" With open incredulity.
She sighed. "Never mind. Nice to see you again."
She left the bathroom. Sonya started to grab her when I muttered, "Don't bother. She's just got the wrong person."
Pain went off in my head, like little needles were jabbing at my brain. I rubbed my temples.
"Are you well, cherie?" Sonya asked.
"Fine. She had the wrong person," I repeated. "After all, this is my first trip to Paris."
We walked along the Rue de Clichy with our bodyguards trailing several paces behind us. I'd opted against a full dinner and just had a croissant and cappuccino at one of the many charming cafes lining the streets.
Sonya and Noel hadn't joined us, choosing to let us have our quasi privacy. It did seem kind of intimate, escort and hundreds of passersby notwithstanding. We were just another couple, one of countless, strolling the midnight streets of Paris.
Bones narrated along the way about buildings and structures still standing...and what they'd been before. He had me laughing at stories about him, his best friend Spade, and his sire Ian. I could just imagine the hell the three of them must have raised.
We stopped at the end of one of the long streets where the buildings were particularly close together. Bones called out something in French, then led me farther down the narrow alley.
"What did you just say?"
He smiled. "You'd rather not know."
Then he covered my mouth in a deep kiss and molded me to him. I gasped when I felt his hands bunching up my dress.
"Are you crazy? There are half a dozen vampires nearby - "
"None within eyesight," he cut me off with a chuckle. "As instructed."
"They can hear, Bones," I continued to object, facing the building as he spun me around.
He continued to laugh. "Then do be sure to say flattering things."
Bones had an arm around my waist, locking me next to him. My squirming only ratcheted my dress higher as his hands bunched it up. Then the sudden pierce of his fangs into my neck made me freeze. A low rumble of pleasure came from him.
"Ah, Kitten, you love that almost as much as I do. Sink into me, luv, as I do the same."
The blood leaving me and spilling into him felt like it was replaced by sweet fire. Bones was right; I loved it when he bit me. My skin felt hot, my heartbeat quickened - and then I was rubbing against him and moaning at the delay of his unzipping his pants.
"Bones," I managed. "Yes - "
The building hit me in the face so hard I felt my cheek fracture. And then the gunfire registered.
It came in staccato bursts from above us, on all sides...everywhere but from the building I was mashed against. Bones had me pressed into the brick. His body covered mine, and he was draped over me, shuddering while he punched at the wall in front of me. Trying to make a door where one didn't exist.
That's when I realized why he was shaking. He was being strafed with bullets.
It sounded like our guards were taking even worse treatment. From the intermittent spaces without Bones jerking in reflex, they must have formed a perimeter around our crouched bodies. When a concentrated burst of gunfire ended with a scream cut off, I started to struggle in a panic. It was much worse than I'd thought. Whoever this was, they were firing silver bullets.
"We have to run, God, this'll kill you!" I screamed, attempting to unroll myself from the ball Bones had me stuffed in. With his strength pinning me, I was flapping uselessly like an upside-down turtle.
"If we run, they could cut you down," he rasped, almost inaudible over the racket of gunfire. "One of them will have called for backup. We'll wait. Mencheres will come."
"You'll be dead by then," I countered. It was hard to kill a vampire by gunfire, even with silver bullets, because it took too long to shred the heart. Bones had taught me that. No vamp will sit still and pose for you...
His words over six years ago, dismissing the use of guns as effective weapons. Yet Bones might as well be sitting still and posing for them. Backup would arrive too late. He had to know that, even as I did. For once, he was lying to me.
The building's frame gave where his fist hammered away. People inside screamed. Given time, Bones could tear through the structure, and we'd have a shelter from the pitiless firing. But pounding at it one-handed while being riddled with bullets? Bones was already moving slower, his punches taking on an almost drunken quality. God, he'd die crouched over me, right here on this street.
Something savage surged within me. There wasn't even a clear command my brain gave to my body. All I knew was Bones had to get away from those bullets long enough for him to heal.
With that goal in mind, I managed to maneuver around, then shot straight up with my arms locked around him. We made it to the top of the five-story building we'd been huddled against. Once we hit the roof, I rolled with him, but oddly, no bullets whizzed around us.
I didn't bother pondering why the gunmen weren't targeting us at the moment. Not when I felt Bones sag in my grip. Fear fueled me, sent me leaping onto the roof of the neighboring building with him. And then the next one and the next, not even taking the time to be amazed at what I'd just done. When the remaining gunfire sounded fainter, I stopped. With what I had to do, I'd drop like a stone, but Bones needed blood. A lot of it.
We weren't being chased by any flying assassins. Maybe our guards were holding them up for now, but that might not last. I grabbed Bones's slumped head and slashed my wrist on his fangs, letting my blood pour into his mouth.
For a frozen, petrifying second, nothing happened. He didn't swallow, open his eyes, or do anything but let the red liquid stream out of his mouth. Frantic, I used my other hand to work his jaw, forcing the blood down his throat. Tears blurred my eyes, because he had a mass of silver-filled holes all over him, even on his cheeks. Oh God, please don't let him die...