Carpathian 22 - Dark Predator

follow him in all things, but he didn’t understand the rules of polite society and how what he was doing could hurt Lea and Julio. She feared they would never be comfortable looking at one another again if he continued to force things from Lea. In the end, Julio would forever be upset and distrusting of Zacarias and it would color her relationship with him.
    Marguarita looked into her teacup. She didn’t really feel like drinking tea when she’d always loved it. Nothing tempted her, other than water the last few days. She was losing her world and going into his, little by little. She had made that choice, but she wasn’t quite prepared to give up everything she loved so fast.
    “My brother was on the ground, facedown in the dirt. I could hear him laughing and it really upset me. I’m pretty certain he didn’t see DS, and he probably didn’t hear him, but I didn’t like him laughing, not when I’d been so scared,” Lea admitted.
    Julio shifted his body toward her. “Of course you were scared. Who is this man, DS?”
    Lea shook her head. “Don’t go near him, Julio. He’s bad news. Ever since my brother met him, we’ve had nothing but trouble. He persuades Esteban to do things that are wrong.” She ducked her head, avoiding eye contact. “I’ve barely managed to keep Esteban out of jail more than once.”
    “That night,” Zacarias prompted, keeping her on track. His voice was pitched very low, a velvet persuasion no one could resist.
    “I helped Esteban into the house. He was really drunk and he kept talking about Charlie and how DS had recruited him. He bought him drinks all night. Esteban bragged how he kept up with Charlie who was knocking them back. He kept talking crazy, making no sense at all. They played some crazy game. A shot for truth or a dare.”
    “What do you mean, he talked crazy?”
    Marguarita’s mouth went dry. Suddenly her heart began to pound. She was very, very afraid. It was the purr of Zacarias’s voice, a stirring of a dangerous predator, one who clearly had caught the scent of prey and was locked on.
    Drink your tea, mića emni kuηenak minan — my beautiful lunatic. Allow your heart to follow the rhythm of mine. Zacarias shifted slightly, the movement subtle and probably impossible for any other to track, but his body was closer to hers, his heat seeping into the cold of her skin. There is no need to be afraid. Your friend is safe from me. There is no evil in her.
    “Crazy things.” Lea rubbed her temples again. “Staking vampires. He kept calling himself Van Helsing. It’s a name from the book Dracula . He said he was going on a hunt. That he needed a stake and garlic. And then he’d laugh like a maniac and tell me to make necklaces of garlic.” She covered her face with her hands, shaking her head. “The next morning he acted like he didn’t remember anything at all, but then he told me not to tell DS that he’d said anything about vampires and garlic and stakes, so I knew he was lying to me again.” She looked at Julio a little pleadingly. “Honestly, insanity doesn’t run in our family. He was drunk. I have no idea what he’s into, but Esteban likes the idea of secret societies and gangsters. He’s very susceptible to bad influences.”
    “What did Charlie tell them?” Zacarias persisted.
    Marguarita felt tears burning in her eyes. The penalty for betrayal was death. Everyone knew that. You could ask to leave and memories could be removed, but if you were part of the families serving the De La Cruz for generations, the barrier in the mind, the shield protecting the brain from invasion was present at birth and removal was a difficult thing to endure. Charlie had talked in his drunken state to Esteban and his friend DS.
    Lea frowned and this time rubbed at the little lines on her forehead as if that would help her remember. Power stirred in the room. It was so strong, Marguarita was shocked that neither Julio nor Lea seemed to notice the crackle of energy in the air.
    “Esteban said Charlie drew maps to the sleeping chambers and it would be easy to stake the vamps during the day because they wouldn’t be able to move.” She blinked rapidly and looked around the table, embarrassed. “He was really drunk and he wasn’t making sense.”
    Again Marguarita felt Zacarias probing Lea to insure she was an innocent and not probing for more information. She didn’t believe in vampires and thought DS and her brother had likely taken drugs along with