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Chapter 6

Lawrence had gotten to her.

Had Alessandra honestly believed she could pull off such a spectacular lie?

Still, Kenton had to admit she’d done well. Even though she’d insisted on making it a double date, bringing along her red-haired friend and the woman’s stupefyingly dull companion, he hadn’t suspected anything until the dinner had nearly run its course. Kenton chastised himself for not having realized it sooner. But then, even untrained and uninitiated, Alessandra was a descendant of a long line of ancestors whose life purpose was to balance the curse that had made Kenton and the others.

When they came into their power, the Cheld were as strong and as fast as vampires, and they possessed special abilities that could be disconcertingly unpredictable.

And yet this vivacious, arresting woman had somehow gone unnoticed. He would bet the rather large sum of money in his bank account that her father had given her the vampire hunting blood that coursed through her veins. Trouble was, no matter how deeply he dug, Kenton could not find any records of a Thomas Fiore who had fathered Alessandra and Garrett. Hell, he couldn’t even find any records of a Thomas Fiore ever living in the state of Pennsylvania. Kenton planned to pay a visit to her hometown, to her father’s grave. But in the meantime, he needed to deal with the meddlesome Scotsman.

If Lawrence proved meddlesome enough, perhaps he’d attempt to kill him again. It had been some time since he’d last tried.

“What’s next?” Toni’s boyfriend said as they stepped out into the night.

Kenton refrained from comment. It had taken him all of five minutes to detest the self-righteous businessman, who had an extremely high opinion of himself. Of course, Kenton’s siblings had often accused him of the same failing, but that did not make him any fonder of Toni’s boyfriend. He’d caught Alessandra’s eye more than once over dinner telling him she felt the same way about her friend’s boyfriend.

“Murphy’s?” Tyler asked.

He watched as Toni and Alessandra exchanged a glance. For a woman who had apparently been warned her life was in danger, no doubt at the coffee shop, his date had held up remarkably well.

She was as brave and bold as she was beautiful. And she made Kenton want to do something he hadn’t done in centuries.

Turn and walk away from a threat.

“Didn’t you say you had an appointment tomorrow morning?” Toni asked Alessandra. “Maybe we should call it a night early?”

“What kind of appointment?” Tyler asked, about as subtle as a knife to the gut.

Alessandra looked up at Kenton, not flinching, and said, “A massage appointment.”

He felt the tug of a smile. Offering her the crook of his arm, he said, “Well then, I suppose I should be getting you home, Miss Fiore.”

She hesitated, and he took the opportunity to link his arm with hers. His only regret was that his long-sleeved shirt didn’t allow for him to feel the touch of her soft skin against his own.

She is your enemy. Remember it. Remember what they did to Father. To Mother.

“I’m kind of tired too,” Toni said behind them, no doubt to ensure he was not left alone with Alessandra. He listened to the other couple’s footsteps as they followed them. They turned onto Main Street and walked back toward Alessandra’s tiny home.

“How did you come to live here?” he asked Alessandra.

“A job fair,” she said. “When I came for the interview, Toni was one of the first people I met. I was staying at the inn downtown”—she waved a hand to indicate the Stone Haven Inn a few blocks behind them—“and had just come back from the interview. Apparently I looked a fright. She asked if I needed directions—”

“Because you were standing stock-still in the middle of the sidewalk,” Toni said from behind them. Her tone carried the fondness of a sibling.

“It was my first real job interview, and I guess I was a little nervous. In any case, if I remember correctly, I was admiring the inn’s balcony, which reminded me of the French Quarter. And the rest, they say, is history.”

“Friends and roommates since?”

“Yep.”

“So you’ve been to New Orleans then. That’s the second time you mentioned New Orleans. Have you been more than once?”

“I have.” They stepped over an uneven section of concrete as they walked past a series of well-preserved row houses. “Three times. It’s my favorite city. Have you been?”

Though she made small talk with apparent ease, Kenton could hear the slight hesitation in her voice. Gone was the sweet sincerity and ease with which she’d spoken to him that very morning. She would never tell him anything unless he soothed her fears.

“Many times. You said the inn reminded you of the Quarter?”