He gave me a grim look. "I had a personal acquaintance with a member of the Chase family two hundred years ago. He nearly killed Veronique and me. He pledged to wipe out all elder vampires from the face of the planet. He didn't bother with fledglings, since they weren't much of a challenge to him."
"He hurt you?"
He paused before answering. "I heal remarkably well."
My jaw felt tight. "I'm glad they're dead."
"There will always be someone to take the place of a true monster. Especially a rich one."
I nodded. "That's why it's a good thing that somebody's decided to revive the whole Red
Devil thing."
Being staked had left more than an itchy healing feeling in my chest. It had left me with a ton of empathy for all the poor vamps who hadn't been lucky enough to be rescued.
"While I do owe him my deep gratitude for saving you," Thierry said, "I fear that he is simply a misguided vampire who is in well over his head."
"You think that's all he is? Misguided? Because the Red Devil never truly existed, right?
That's what you said the other night."
He walked over to the little curtained window that looked out onto the parking lot. "There was a time when there was a true Red Devil. A very long time ago."
I frowned. "Hold on. First you said it was an urban legend and now you're saying he really existed? Which is it?"
He turned to look at me. "The Diable Rouge came forth when hunters began to grow and organize their numbers. Vampires were helpless against them."
"And?"
"And he endeavored to save those who needed his assistance from the clutches of hunters who viewed us as monsters needing to be slaughtered. He saved as many as he could, whenever he could. It became an obsession for him. But that was a long time ago when such a man as the Red Devil was needed. To have someone acting as the Red Devil now would be merely a drop in the bucket of righting wrongs."
The hunters still looked at us that way. That's why most of them sharpened their stakes.
Because they really believed we were evil, bloodsucking things that needed to die. It was so Hollywood. "I guess we see differently on this. I figure a drop in the bucket is better than no drops at all." I shook my head at him. "Have you always been this way?"
"What way?"
"Mr. Pessimistic. You've got to remember, along with that bleak worldview, there is a whole lot of hope to go along with it. Otherwise, why even bother getting up in the morning? The world is a pretty good place, actually. You've just got to look for the good in it instead of the bad."
"Eternal optimism. I wish for you to always possess it." He moved toward the bed and leaned over to kiss me on my lips, but it felt like a sad kiss instead of a passionate one. I captured his mouth before he had the chance to pull away, and deepened the kiss, pulling on his shirt to draw him closer to me. He didn't resist.
"You know what?" I breathed against his mouth. "How about we forget about the happily departed Gideon Chase and the Red Devil? I haven't had a chance to say thank you for my new ring."
He gazed down at me. "You've just said it."
"That's not exactly what I meant." I swung my legs around so I was kneeling on the bed next to where he stood and I let my hands move over his shoulders and down his back, pulling his suit jacket off as I went. I kissed him again and slid my tongue against his, tasting him deeply. "Wouldn't want this snazzy room to go to waste, you know."
"Snazzy is not the word I'd use to describe it." He inhaled sharply as my hands slid to lower places on his body. They had a tendency to do that.
I smiled up at him. "Just because the artwork is nailed to the wall and I wouldn't want a
CSI team in here with their black light doesn't mean this can't be a romantic getaway, you know."
"Agreed." He leaned over and crushed his mouth to mine and, with a hand at the small of my back, lowered me to the bed. His weight pressed firmly down on top of me and the bed let out a mournful creaking sound. After a moment he broke off the kiss and gazed down at me with a small smile. "But later."
With effort, mostly because I was wrapped very firmly around him, he managed to pull away from me.
"Later?" I glanced up at the ceiling mirror that lacked my reflection. "Why later?"
He raised a dark eyebrow. "Your reunion starts in less than forty-five minutes."
"I'm okay if we're fashionably late. Really."
With an amused look and another soft brush of his lips against mine that made me groan with frustration, he stood up from the bed and walked into the bathroom. I heard the shower being turned on just as there was a knock at the door. I sat up and swung off the bed. Being careful not to make a sound, I crept toward the little window and glanced outside. My eyebrows went up and I unlocked the door so I could swing it open.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked.
George leaned against the doorframe. "I just love this town. Where is that monster-sized pumpkin? I totally brought my camera this time."
I frowned at him. "What's wrong? Why are you here?"
"I needed to talk to you."
"To me? Not to Thierry?"
"No, just you." He was grinning so I could see his fangs. "Guess who I met?"
"I have absolutely no idea."
"Let me give you a hint. First name Red, last name Devil?"
"Are you serious?"
He nodded. "He is awesome, Sarah. So amazing. Everything I'd ever heard about him is totally true. He was waiting for me by my car outside Amy's and he scared the bejeezus out of me, especially with the whole scarf-over-his-face thing. But then he asked me personally to come here and keep an eye on you. He wants to make sure you're okay. Isn't that fabulous?"
Fabulous, sure. Also extremely strange and suspicious. "Why you?"
"Obviously because he knows I'm the right person for the job."
"The job of spying on me?"
He laughed at that. "Very funny. No, of course not. Of course he wants you to be safe, which is cool, but obviously he's interviewing me to be his trusty sidekick. Since I need a new job anyhow, the timing couldn't be more perfect." He pulled a compact digital camera out of his back pocket and held it up to his face. "Say cheese."
"Cheese." I blinked as the flash went off.
He eyed the display screen of the shot he had just taken. "You forgot to smile."