Free Deadly Liaisons by Terry Spear

would have taught her to control such feelings, especial y in front of a vampire. Which made him believe she could cross the line and become a renegade. But he wasn’t about to let her go there. Not when it could cause further difficulties between her people and his.
    “I’ve never invited Krustalus inside my home. I only vaguely recal meeting him once in Scotland in the early years after my change. A brief encounter in a tavern, as I recal . Nothing remarkable about the man captured my attention.”
    She clasped and unclasped her fingers. “If I had my sword, I’d ask him in.”
    This was a dangerous notion, and he couldn’t fathom why she would wish to put herself at such risk. “If the SCU hasn’t condemned him…”
    She growled her response. “ I condemn him for the murder of my parents.”
    She didn’t have the authority. “What proof do you have, Tezra?”
    Turning her glare from him, she stared at the floor. “He didn’t take their blood, just slashed their throats and left them to die in front of my sister when she was twelve. I was training at Portland SCU’s elite school, learning how to use my wrist daggers, learning how to be a huntress, but when I came home…” She looked at the patio door. “My sister’s in a world of her own, doesn’t speak or seem to understand most of what I say to her. It’s al my fault she’s the way she is.”
    Daemon knew Tezra had trained to be a huntress. He sensed it in her actions, in her thoughts when they weren’t guarded. A dark huntress. Reaching down he took her hands, forcing her to unclench them. Her long nails had dug into the skin, but hadn’t cut it yet. He didn’t need to be exposed to any more of her blood.
    He doubted the crime was Tezra’s fault, but she seemed to think the burden of guilt rested on her shoulders, and he was bound and determined to find out why.
    Before he could question her further, Krustalus spoke to him privately. “It is I, Krustalus. Will you invite me in? I have important issues to discuss with you . ”
    Daemon had ruled the vampires of America since the time of the American Revolution. Krustalus had never pledged his al egiance to Daemon’s rule before, not that it was required as long as the vampire did nothing to stir up trouble. So why al the interest to see him now? To get at Tezra? Or did he have some larger just as equal y dark purpose in mind?
    Daemon sensed a smugness emanating from him. “I’ll meet with you in an hour at Popia’s Wharfside Restaurant.”
    “Ahh, you are busy with sweet Tezra. Give her my love, will you, Prince Daemon? ’Til then, milord,” Krustalus communicated in a mocking tone, then left.
    Now suspecting what Tezra had said about Krustalus was true, Daemon tightened his hold on her hands. Why else would the vampire know her wel enough to recognize she was in the house with him? Why use an endearing term in connection with her name?
    She relaxed as if a ton of bricks had been lifted from her shoulders. “He’s gone,” she whispered. “He spoke privately to you, didn’t he?”
    “Yes, he said he knew you were here.”
    “Of course he knows.” She yanked her hands free. “He always knows where I am, and I sense his close proximity, but he won’t come near enough when he’s in human form for me to catch sight of his face. I only know the demonic tone of his thoughts. He was there, taunting me before Officer Stevens died.” She rubbed her neck.
    Daemon glanced at the ribbed material of the turtleneck she wore and a new concern flickered across his mind. “Has he bitten you?”
    Her eyes widened, but she shook her head.
    But something about her action, the way she’d touched her neck when she thought of Krustalus taunting her, drawing close, made Daemon think there was something more to the situation than a vampire out for revenge.
    “I thought you’d been cal ed to investigate the murder. That others were with you at the time. What the hel were you doing alone in the