The Pursuit by A. E. Jones Page B

ingénue.”
    Chris reached for Annie and pulled her close. She rubbed herself wantonly against him while Talia’s skin crawled.
    “Talia, you’ve already met Annie, my wonderful actress. She had you fooled, did she not? When I turned her twenty-five years ago, this wonderful female surprised me. She is still able to pretend she is newly turned when the need arises. It is a unique power.”
    “Why, Chris?” Talia asked.
    “You need to be more specific, my dear. Why what?”
    “Why did you kill Melanie?”
    Chris stroked Annie’s chin, and she closed her eyes and practically purred. “I need beauty around me. Melanie was gorgeous. She would have made a glorious vampire. Unfortunately, I allowed Annie to taste her, and she got a bit carried away, didn’t you, my beautiful girl?”
    Annie smiled and batted her eyes like a heroine from a silent movie.
    Talia shook her head. “She didn’t accidentally take too much. She killed her on purpose. You didn’t want the competition, did you? Someone who was prettier than you attracting Chris’s eye. That wasn’t something you could risk.”
    Annie glared at her. “You’re just jealous because he kept me and threw you away.”
    Talia ignored her, directing her next words to Chris. “Why the production?”
    “When I saw you again after all these years, I couldn’t believe it. I thought you had died that day, but yet there you stood in front of me, swearing vengeance. And it made my blood race. Finally, a challenge! A new game to play. And I lobbed the first ball at you, telling you of Jean Luc’s oath to me. Instead of lobbing the ball back, you backed away altogether. You were willing to throw it all away to protect him.”
    “So you lobbed a bigger ball at me.”
    Chris grinned. “What could I throw at you that would force your hand? Make you come after me even if it meant Jean Luc’s life? A victim who had been turned the way I turned you. Someone who would remind you of what I had done to you.”
    Annie curtsied. “That would be me.”
    “Did you tell her to drain me as well?”
    Chris’s eyes widened at the question.
    Anna smiled. “I improvised. I wouldn’t have killed her, of course. That fun I left for you.”
    “You sultry minx!” He grabbed her around the waist, and she giggled when he growled at her.
    Talia took a deep breath and swallowed the acid that surged up into her throat. They were both psychotic.
    “So now what, Chris? You kill me?”
    “Not yet. Now the game begins again but with bigger stakes.”
    “What do you…?” But Talia didn’t finish her question. The tingling at the back of her neck gave her the answer. Jean Luc was close by.
    “No, Chris. This is between us!”
    “Not anymore. Not when you involved him. Is he your lover, Talia?”
    “Why do you care? You left me for dead thirty years ago.”
    Jean Luc burst through the door. He looked from Chris, to Annie, and finally to Talia. “What is happening here?”
    Chris pushed Annie away, and she frowned at the abrupt gesture. “Glad to see you could make it.”
    “You called and told me Renato was here. Where is he?” He glanced at Talia. “Why are you here?”
    “Yes, tell him Talia, why you are here.”
    Not like this. “He is my…” She couldn’t say it. She choked on the word.
    “Sire.” Chris finished for her. “She is mine, Jean Luc. I made her.”
    Jean Luc flinched as if he had been slapped. His eyes narrowed and turned red and he growled. Low and hoarse. A growl full of fury and promise of retribution.
    He took a step toward Chris.
    “Ah, ah, ah, my friend. Remember your oath.” Chris grinned.
    Oh, God. “No, Chris!”
    Jean Luc glanced at her, eyes flaring in surprise. “Chris?”
    “That was the name I was using thirty years ago. When I met Talia.”
    “You knew him before he turned you?”
    Chris laughed out loud. “This is fabulous! You told him you didn’t know me?”
    “I didn’t know you were a vampire. I didn’t know you would turn me