Chapter 4 – Tristan
Chapter Four
Tristan
“To what do we owe the honor of your presence in Las Vegas?” the Camorra Don, Miguel Schiavone, asked belligerently.
It was nothing more than I expected. The older Dons always needed extra incentive to show me the proper respect. “Do I need a reason to visit one of my cities?” I asked silkily. See, I can be a reasonable guy. I didn’t break his fucking face for daring to step up to me.
I arrived in Las Vegas just as the sun set. With Cyrus and Aidan at my side, we walked into the Camorra-owned casino and fight club close to 8 p.m. The opening fight, a fight with a couple of guys who looked like teenagers, was about to begin.
The club was surprisingly posh considering the Camorra Don’s insistence on the need to renovate the place. Despite the décor and massive size of the entire club, it smelled of alcohol, sweat, cigarettes, and marijuana smoke. Cloying perfume and the stench of desperation permeated the air.
We were seated at the Don’s table in an upper VIP level above the arena. The sitting area was far enough away from the action to allow conversation. Unfortunately, I had barely sat down with a glass of aged scotch, which was probably more than fifty years old, when the stronzo went on the attack.
“Las Vegas is usually outside of the entertainment value for you city boys. You know, the Cosmo type…” He gave a booming laugh, which the five goons he had at his back nervously joined in.
I observed him steadily, not moving a muscle, and still didn’t react even when the bastard swallowed hard in sudden nervousness. I haven’t worn anything but black for the past two years because I never know when I’ll meet dickheads like this motherfucker.
“I mean no disrespect,” Schiavone said but didn’t bother to hide his grin.
His goons wore smirks that reeked of disrespect and insolence.
The opening fight was probably reaching its zenith because the noise level on the lower floor was through the roof with frenzied excitement. While I expected that most of the audience’s attention was on the fight, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were several cops in the audience whose attention would be on the VIP section. Given this stronzo’s habit of bribing the local authorities to do his dirty work for him. If there was an attack, he could blame the police and wouldn’t have to answer to the Family for attacking me.
“These assholes can’t be this stupid,” Aidan muttered.
“Apparently they are,” I said dryly.
“Ah shit,” Cyrus groaned and stood from the table. He was wearing a white dress shirt, and I guess he didn’t want to get any blood on it.
Aidan and I both wore dark charcoal grey suits with black dress shirts and tie.
“You must forgive me”—Schiavone laughed—“ but you have to admit that you’re unexpectedly pretty for a brudder . I mean I got word that you were, and I think even those reports didn’t do you justice. I mean you’re really?—”
He never got to finish his sentence because I smashed his nose and mouth into his skull with my fist. I usually pull my punches when dealing with mortals, but this fucker deserved my full strength. So, it was not a surprise that there was a massive hole where his mouth and nose should have been and the idiot was now dead.
All hell broke loose. His goons tried to draw their weapons, and that was all they were able to do, try. With a few spins, kicks, fists, and my signature Karambit knife in my palm, using skills taught to me when I was a kid by my Turkish ex-soldier, Burak, and now made even more lethal with superhuman strength, all five goons were cold on the floor beside their Don within seconds.
I shook my head at the familiar scene, which I have been enacting since I became the Godfather. There was always some stronzo that felt the need to piss me off.
When I looked up, Aidan was holding back several more of the Camorra men. I heard him asking them quite calmly whether they wanted to remain alive or join their friends on the floor.
It didn’t surprise me that the fuckers backed down. Even the undercover police officers, who came running up the stairs, took one look at the gruesome scene on the floor, looked at me when one of the Camorra men whispered, “ Il Carnefice ,” and they, too, backed away and left quickly.
I again shook my head. My reputation fortunately eradicates a lot of the bullshit.
It took another hour before we named the new Don and left him to sort his shit out.
Back in the car with Cyrus driving and Aidan riding shotgun, I had just sat back in the soft leather seats, moodily staring out the window, when I saw her. We had made a turn into an offbeat side street that would take us toward another cross street to get to the Russians who were threatening my ward and were just passing a small gas station when it happened. I wasn’t even aware of asking Cyrus to stop the car or of my teleporting out of the vehicle to get a better look.
And then her scent hit me.
With a sister like Danika, two sisters-in-immortal-law like Luna and Alexandra, and Meredith, I was spoiled by the beautiful strong women in my family. And in my world of money and power, beautiful women were a dime a dozen. Hell, I am too damn jaded to even notice a woman’s beauty. They were usually the ones noticing and chasing me.
This time it was me giving chase, at vampiric speed no less.
However, as I followed the stunning lush figure riding low and confident on the back of that sleek, black motorcycle as though she was born to it, I couldn’t help but hope that she had a face to match her body. She raced through the back streets of Las Vegas in pursuit of a Charger that was making no effort to observe traffic signs or road safety. It meant that, the stunning motorcyclist had agilely glided over obstacles, slid through narrow spaces between other moving cars, and swerved around oncoming vehicles.
She was magnificent.
Her scent alone, sweet summer peach, enthralled me. But there was something about her divine feminine form that did it for me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Although I had yet to see her face, I felt compelled, as if on an invisible leash, to follow her. Continuing to run at vampiric speed, I kept pace with my new fascination.
When she swung her legs smoothly over her bike to dismount and removed her black helmet, she took my breath away. Perched atop a derelict apartment building, I looked down at the assembled gang confronting my prey. Despite knowing that one of my organizations utilized the low-level gang she was confronting, I had been about to descend and destroy every one of them for even looking at her when she stepped from the bike and a light, almost like a damn spotlight, illuminated her face.
I felt a crazed jealousy of every male who was looking at her now. She was mine, and I wanted no man near her.
What the fuck was happening to me? I’m never this irrational. Not even when I was human. I’ve never been possessive of a woman.
Never.
It was as if everything around me halted in eerie silent suspense, where everyone and every object but her disappeared, as if a spotlight turned on her, blacking out the area around her. Every sound and every bit of light were suddenly muted. I saw nothing but her. Hell, I smelled nothing but her.
Her short, silky-looking black hair drew my attention immediately, but it was her bluish-gray eyes that were even more startling. Her slender, but lush body and her flawless brown skin also had my fangs aching to taste her succulence and know all there was to know about her, but it was her clothes, the lethal-looking stilettos on her feet, and the massive motorcycle she handled like a pro that added to her badassness and fascinated the hell out of me.
“Bellissima,” I couldn’t help breathing out.
There was something so familiar about her, as if I was experiencing déjà vu, she was so fucking beautiful, so enchanting, I was dazed.
When she discarded her jacket, it seemed to take forever for me to comprehend the letters on her fitted T-shirt. Her gorgeous body was that intoxicating. And it took even longer for me to hear and follow the conversation going on between her and the gang member who stepped forward to speak to her.
Hearing him threaten her ignited a rage I hadn’t felt since Papa was killed. It filled me, consumed me, until I could feel my eyes bleeding to an even deeper blood red and my fangs descending in the urgent need to kill. I was about to pounce when the fascinating beauty stunned me for the second time, or was it the third time?
Hell if I knew.
I was a mass of emotions when for so long I hadn’t felt anything.
I don’t know what the fuck I was looking at, but she was moving like an immortal. From her scent, her very much alive scent, I knew she was not an immortal. She didn’t have the fangs, skin tone, or heartbeat of a vampire, even though she moved and seemed to have the strength of one. She didn’t throw orbs or move like witches or demons but seemed to have their cunning. And she certainly didn’t have the scent of a shapeshifter. It was possible that she was a dhampir though.
The only friendly dhampirs I knew were in my immediate family—Luka, Drako and Xander. Their children were second-generation dhampirs.
To be a dhampir, she would have to had at least one of her parents as a vampire and the other a mortal human, giving her the powers of both. That means that she would be able to sense me or any supernatural creature and have acute senses of sight, hearing, and smell. She would be able to self-heal and eat human food but have an occasional need for blood. She also could sometimes have more strength than a vampire, with the ability to walk in sunlight, as I could not.
Usually, dhampirs are so attuned to the presence of an immortal that they leave the humans they were among to immediately attack. Dhampirs are particularly sensitive to the presence of vampires. And despite being half-vampire, they are more likely to try kill a vampire than any other immortal.
However, as the most powerful vampire, even Papa hadn’t been as strong as I am; she would not be strong enough to defeat me. Even my immortal brothers, Luka, Drako and Xander, who were the most powerful dhampirs, would have difficulty taking me on. So far, we haven’t come across any immortal as strong as I have become in recent years.
But then, I didn’t get the sense that she was a dhampir either. If I was this close to a dhampir, they would have at least reacted to my presence and tried to attack me. It was instinctive to their nature. No, whatever my beautiful prey was, she wasn’t a dhampir either.
I watched in fascination as she completely dismantled the gang. I was surprised to note that she was careful to not kill any of them, but she left them in a whole lot of pain.
Definitely not an immortal. An immortal wouldn’t have given a shit about the life of a miniscule human.
When three F150 trucks, filled with what appeared to be more armed gang members, suddenly drove onto the scene below, I could no longer stand by and do nothing.
“I’m going down to help,” I told Aidan abruptly.
Aidan had been silently beside me ever since I exited the car. It seemed that he was determined to be my damn shadow ever since Papa died.
“We need to get to the Russians,” Aidan said quietly. However, I couldn’t help but hear an underlying urgency—or was that panic—in his voice.
Why? I didn’t have time to question what was up his ass this time.
“That can wait. I need to help her,” I told him. He should know that, while I might tolerate his ass accompanying me everywhere, he had better keep his fucking opinions to himself. I did as I pleased.
I teleported down to the cul-de-sac using a nearby tree and the isolated darkness as cover to hide my sudden appearance.
“Perhaps I can be of assistance,” I said quietly as I came up next to my woman. Yes, I said my woman because I suddenly realized why everything about her appealed to me. To say she was stunningly beautiful was merely scratching the surface of her appeal. The intelligence in her eyes and her determination and bravery in standing up against such overwhelming odds intrigued me. Her scent, God, her fresh peach scent, intoxicated me to the point that I had clenched my fist to prevent reaching out to touch her. I’ve never felt so out of control.
Please, God, don’t let her be human. It was impossible for a human to be the mate of a vampire, I reminded myself. I would have to turn her for that to be true. And I would never do that to her. I was a monster, but I could never be that kind of monster to her.
I watched her shocked bluish-gray gaze roam over me, first with disbelief and then with reluctant fascination. My vampire allure usually drew human and immortal females to me whether they wanted to desire me or not. After Papa’s death, I’ve ignored that side of my nature since I almost killed my last lover. For years I’ve felt absolutely no desire to engage. No desire for sex of any kind. And while I still had concubines, who usually serviced my feeding and sexual needs simultaneously, I have only been using them to feed for the past few years.
Now, experiencing the sensual caress of her molten gaze and scenting her growing desire for me, my libido suddenly reawakened with brutal interest. The onslaught of feeling so suddenly, so fiercely was dizzying. It also filled me with primitive possessiveness.
She was mine. My mate. I knew that with every molecule in my body. It didn’t make sense given our biology, but it was an innate knowing that was unmistakable.
Protecting her from the relentless bullets coming at her, I relished my primitive urge to hurt and maim the idiots trying to kill my mate. I was barely able to restrain myself from killing every one of those bastards, and yet she still gave me shit for the little I did. I loved her spunk and couldn’t wait until she was all mine.
“I will see you soon,” I promised her as the police, firefighters, and ambulance advanced into the cul-de-sac. I had every intention of claiming her as soon as I could. Now that I’ve found her, I have no interest in denying her existence or denying my rights to her. She is mine, and I will let nothing stop me from solidifying my claim.
“Did you see her?” I asked Aidan as soon as I rejoined him on the roof of the building. Shit, I sounded like a starry-eyed excited teenager.
“Magnificent, right?” I sighed. I was so stoked. I finally looked at Aidan when he didn’t answer me. I deliberately ignored the scowl of disapproval on Aidan’s face and, instead, eagerly returned to looking down at my mate. And then I watched her get shot by the kid. Every muscle in my body stilled in shock. I saw her grimace of pain, but there didn’t seem to be the kind of substantial damage that you would expect from a gunshot injury to a human, and while the bullet had caused pain, she very quickly recovered, and the wound didn’t seem to debilitate her.
What the fuck?! I was even more determined to find out what she was.
“What do you think she is?” I asked Aidan. As an ancient werewolf, he would have seen every variation of immortal or supernatural being and know, or at least have a good idea, what my beautiful mate was.
“Someone special,” Aidan said cryptically.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Tell me,” I growled, realizing that he did know.
“Every minute we delay, we jeopardize your charges,” he said stoically.
Yeah, the big bastard knew something but had no intention of disclosing anything to me.
“Maybe I should bite your ass to get the information I want,” I threaten.
Aidan glared at me without responding. If I were anyone else, he would have already punched my face in. However, because he’d loved Alexi, he would never hurt me. And he knew that I would never hurt him or violate his trust for the same reason
Since the scene below had dissolved into the usual classic police roundup and bag ’em process, I reluctantly started toward the waiting black SUV being driven by Cyrus.
“I want to know everything about her within the next hour,” I ordered once we were settled in the car.
“No.” Aidan didn’t even look up from his phone when he said it.
“What the fuck do you mean, no?”
“She is under protection and not to be exploited.”
I really wanted to bite his ass then, but his absolute resolve and the note of protectiveness toward her gave me pause. Who is she? Is she one of my brother’s by-blows or something? What the fuck is going on? Those questions I kept to myself, but there were others that he must answer.
“Why is she under protection?” I asked instead. “Whose protection? And who said anything about exploiting her?!” With every question, I felt my temper escalating higher and higher until I felt as if the top of my head would explode. The enormity of my emotions, when I hadn’t felt anything in years, stunned me.
“We will be at the Russians’ club shortly,” Cyrus said in the deadly silence of the car, making it clear that he wanted no part in this.
“Tell me who she is.” I didn’t even recognize my own voice, and I refused to acknowledge the overwhelming possessiveness I felt for her coursing through me. Never mind that I didn’t know her name. She was my mate, and nothing, and no one, would keep me from her.
Aidan ignored me.
“Take us home, Cyrus. I have an errand to run,” I drawled. If Aidan thought that his silence would deter me or steer me in a different direction, then he didn’t know who the fuck he was dealing with.
“When I get back from my errand, I have every intention of beating the snot out of you,” I told Aidan darkly.
“It will do you no good,” Aidan said calmly.
If I wasn’t so buzzed with the thoughts of my plans, I would beat his ass now.
Cyrus was still driving the vehicle toward our home base when I teleported from the car into my suite of rooms on the top two floors of the popular hotel chain. No one would suspect that we lived in the heart of Vegas, and certainly not in such a crowded hotel. However, since Aidan, Cyrus or I didn’t need to use the stairs or the elevators, no one ever saw me arrive or leave.
Determined to avoid my well-meaning staff and concubines, who resided on the lower floor of my suite, I teleported directly to my bedroom.
The top floor contained eight bedrooms, a library and sitting room, and an entertainment room. My bedroom filled about a quarter of the top floor, while the others were used by my immortal brothers and their families. As a family with substantial investments in real estate and the hotel industry, we had similar accommodations throughout major cities in the world. I was the only one in residence now, so I had the entire top floor to myself.
Not wanting to be deterred in my plans, I swiftly exchanged my suit for black jeans and a black fitted shirt. I teleported from my bedroom again soon after to avoid Cyrus or Aidan insisting on accompanying me. And because I was so pissed at him, I gave Aidan the task telepathically to terminate my relationship with my concubines. Not only did I not need them any longer, but their whining and complaints will be Aidan’s problem for the next few hours. That should keep his ass busy and out of my business.