The man hesitated, but only for a fraction of a second. “He is downstairs.”
She looked at the man carefully. He was obviously a vampyre, with pale, perfect skin and an almost ethereal perfection of face and form. She didn’t recognize him as one of William’s servants, but his voice, and his old-fashioned Italian, was familiar. She must have heard it somewhere before. She wondered why she couldn’t identify him by his face.
“I can’t come right now. My sister and her boyfriend are on their way here.”
“The Prince wants you to come now.” The vampyre’s tone changed. “Pets obey their masters.”
Raven lifted her eyebrows, while resisting the urge to correct him.
“I’ll call Ambrogio and explain.” She pivoted toward the kitchen table.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
Reflexively, Raven stood aside.
She opened her mouth to invite the vampyre in, when something Father Kavanaugh had said flashed through her mind. She turned her head slowly and saw the man watching her, poised on the threshold like a snake, waiting to strike.
She smiled in an effort to disarm him. Then, in one quick motion, she closed and bolted the door.
Something heavy slammed against the door and the wooden object sagged on its hinges. The sounds of Italian curses filtered through the air.
She pulled out her cell phone, fumbling with the buttons. The man pounded on the door, demanding to be invited inside. Raven waited impatiently for her call to connect.
“Ambrogio?” she almost shouted into the phone. “A strange vampyre is here. He says he works for his lordship. He’s pounding on my door, demanding to be invited in.”
“Don’t invite him in,” Ambrogio responded coolly, as if she were merely giving him a weather report. “His lordship is not at home but I will get a message to him. Stay where you are. I’ll send Luka and Marco.”
“My sister is on her way here. She’s taking a taxi from Santa Maria Novella.”
“Stay where you are. The men are coming.”
Raven ended the call, dropping her phone on the kitchen table.
Luka and Marco, who were merely human, would be no match for the angry, pounding vampyre. And what if he was lurking around when Cara and Dan arrived?
Raven inclined her head toward the door, but the vampyre had ceased. Quietly, she stepped over to the peephole and looked outside. The hallway was empty.
Cautiously relieved, she entered her bedroom and walked to the window, pushing the curtains aside so she could look down at the piazza.
There were patrons sitting at the café across the square and there were a few tourists and students milling about. But there was no vampyre. She wondered where he’d gone.
Thirty minutes later, Raven was sitting on her bed, clutching her phone and waiting for Luka and Marco to arrive. There was still no sign of the vampyre. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Cara and Dan, either.
Her apartment buzzer rang. She looked out her bedroom window and was relieved to see Cara and Dan standing outside with their luggage.
She placed her phone in the back pocket of her jeans and approached the door to her apartment. The hallway was still clear.
She unlocked the door, opened it a crack, and poked her head out. Satisfied the hall was empty, she locked the door behind her and descended the stairs, gazing over the railing as she descended to make sure no one was hiding on the staircase.
Once she reached the front door, she opened it and quickly pulled her visitors indoors.
Raven was about to close the door behind them, when a man’s hand clamped onto the door frame.
Chapter Forty-four
Before Raven could push the door shut, the man swept inside the building, slamming the door behind him. He stood, blocking the exit, his size menacing, his expression severe. When his gaze alighted on Raven, he leered.
In a horrifying instant, Raven recognized him as the vampyre who had attacked Bruno some months before. William had called him Max.
“Dan, take Cara to the back door.” Raven placed herself between the vampyre and her family, tossing her house keys to Dan. He caught them handily.
With a growl, Max grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her toward the door.
“Hey, let her go!” Cara reacted immediately, moving to Raven’s side.
Raven struggled, twisting and turning in an attempt to free herself. But he held her in a bruising grip.
Cara struck him with Raven’s cane, but her blows seemed to have little effect other than to irritate him. He wrenched the cane from her grasp and threw it several feet away. When he lifted his hand as if to strike her, Dan intervened, grabbing the vampyre’s meaty arm and pulling it backward. With a snarl, the creature released Raven and she fell to her knees. The vampyre reared back and punched Dan in the face, causing a sickening crunch to echo in the hall. Dan slumped to the floor amid Cara’s screams.
“Dan!” she cried, kneeling at his side. She placed a hand on his chest. “He isn’t breathing!”
The vampyre ignored her outburst and grabbed Raven by the hair, pulling her to her feet.
“Cara, run,” Raven managed, wincing in pain. “Get help.”
“Let her go.” Cara stumbled to her feet, wiping her boyfriend’s blood on her black jeans. She was shaking with anger.
“No, Cara. Run!”
Cara ignored her sister’s pleas and picked up the discarded cane, brandishing it like a club in the direction of the vampyre.
“Run!” Raven screamed, panic overtaking her.