Free Shades of Gray by Amanda Ashley Page A

rang.
    "Are you expecting Chiavari?" Ramsey asked.
    "No."
    "Wait here. I'll get it."
    "All right." She clasped her hands to still their trembling, her whole body tensing with trepidation as she heard Grigori's voice.
    And then he was there, looming over her. As always, his presence seemed to fill the room. It took all the courage she possessed to meet his eyes.
    "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice sharp. "Has Ramsey been filling your head with more nonsense?"
    "I don't know. Has he?"
    "Do you think I'm responsible for the killings in the city?"
    "Are you?" She stared up at him. What was she doing, saying?
    Ramsey sat in the chair across from her, but his nearness offered little comfort. She lifted a hand to her chest, felt the solid shape of the cross beneath her sweater. If Grigori attacked her, did she have enough faith to believe the cross would protect her?
    "Would you believe me if I said I was innocent?"
    "I don't know."
    Grigori looked at Ramsey. "Do you think I'm involved in these killings?"
    Ramsey nodded. "Damn right. Alexi doesn't need that much blood to survive, not after all these years."
    "Alexi doesn't kill because he needs to," Grigori retorted. "He kills because he enjoys it."
    Ramsey snorted softly. "And you don't?"
    Grigori glanced at Marisa. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with interest and revulsion. "I haven't killed anyone in this city. I never hunt where I live."
    "Yeah, right," Ramsey muttered.
    "It's true, whether you believe it or not." His words were for Ramsey, but he was watching Marisa. For reasons he didn't care to examine too closely, it was important that she believe him.
    Marisa shifted in her seat. Grigori's probing gaze made her decidedly uncomfortable. "I'm going to get a cup of coffee. Edward, would you like some?"
    "Yes, thank you."
    Grigori watched Marisa and Ramsey walk into the kitchen. He felt a twinge of jealousy that they could share something as ordinary as a cup of coffee. For the first time in a long while, he was keenly aware that he was no longer a mortal man.
    Keeping his face impassive, he went to stand in the kitchen doorway. Ramsey and Marisa were sitting at the table. Ramsey held a cup to his lips; Marisa was staring out the window, the cup in her hand untouched.
    "Do you have any idea where Alexi goes to ground?" Ramsey asked.
    "No."
    "Well, I've looked in all the places I can think of. He's not in any of them."
    Marisa drew her gaze from the window. "What kind of places?"
    "Old graveyards. Deserted buildings and houses. Empty lots." Edward shrugged. "I've started checking the local hotels, but that takes time."
    "I've sensed his presence on more than one occasion," Grigori remarked. "But he always eludes me. I think he's playing with us. Sometimes I can almost hear him laughing."
    "He'll be laughing out of the other side of his face when I drive my stake into his heart." For all his soft-spoken words, there was no mistaking the hatred in Ramsey's eyes, or the fervor in his tone.
    "He may not be resting in the city at all," Grigori mused, thinking aloud. "Perhaps he's just hunting here, in which case we're wasting our time looking for his lair."
    Ramsey nodded. "That's always a possibility. Still, I don't think we should start looking into the surrounding areas until we're certain he's not holed up here somewhere."
    "He knows we're looking for him," Grigori remarked, thinking out loud. "He may be changing his resting place every day, or every week, and if that's the case, we might never find him."
    "I'll find him."
    Grigori shook his head. "I think the only way we'll catch him is if he lets us."
    Ramsey's hand reached up to curl around his crucifix. "I will see him dead," he vowed. "One way or another. I swear it. Tell me, Chiavari, where do
you
spend the daylight hours?"
    "Do I look like a fool, Ramsey?"
    "Not at all, but if I knew more about you, perhaps it would make it easier to find Alexi."
    "All you need know is that I never hunt in the same city where I take my