Free Blood Born by Linda Howard Page A

will immediately begin working to strengthen their resistance to Voice, so don’t bother stroking my ego.”
    Her dark eyes flashed, and in that millisecond the Council member was replaced by the woman; her look said she wouldn’t mind stroking something else. Forthe most part, sex to a vampire was a casual, voracious appetite, frequently fed but seldom significant. Young vampires were prone to forming relationships, but older vampires generally knew better.
    Having sex with Marie wasn’t on his list of things he wanted to do, though. She was a Council member, and thus a suspect. He had fought wars and battles his entire life, and he looked at everything, even sex, from a strategic point of view. She was very old and very powerful, and the act of sex might provide a moment—such as during orgasm—that would leave him vulnerable. He didn’t believe in vulnerability, especially when it involved someone as arrogant and powerful as she was.
    Then the moment was gone as fast as it had appeared and she was her usual focused, determined self. “Do you have to leave immediately? I want to show you something,” she said abruptly.
    He needed to get some rest. He needed to feed. He’d been traveling all night, the sunlight was draining, and he hadn’t fed in several days now, something he needed to do more often when he was exerting this much effort. Hunger was gnawing at him, fraying his self-control. The last thing he wanted to do was to put off feeding so long that he went into a frenzy. But his curiosity was sparked, maybe because he caught an air of banked … excitement? self-satisfaction? about her, and he wondered what could have brought that on. He said, “No, I can stay for a while.”
    “This way,” she said, and led him through a door toward the back of the building, then up a flight of stairs. He wondered why they didn’t take the elevator, but he preferred the stairs anyway—there wasn’t enough room in an elevator to really fight, if he needed to—so he didn’t ask. As they climbed she said with a sigh, “You are so stubborn. Together, you and I could easily rule the Council. Two blood born vampires, withour combined power and age—no one would dare to challenge us.”
    “I have enough power to suit me,” Luca said easily. “I like my life as it is.”
    “You’re a hired gun!” Marie argued. “We send you after rogue vampires and you dispose of them like any capable garbage man. You’re better than that. You deserve more.”
    Luca smiled. He wasn’t going to allow Marie to get a rise out of him, as she obviously intended. “Maybe I like being a hired gun. No worries and plenty of money.”
    “You have no idea of the amount of money you
could
have. Look at Valerik.”
    Valerik was one of the vampire senators. He’d changed his name, established all the proper records, and he was capable of withstanding daylight. Maybe he’d glamoured people into voting for him, but that wasn’t Luca’s problem.
    “Valerik is a twit, and he always has been.”
    “That’s beside the point. Now that he’s in office, he’s become a very
rich
twit.”
    They’d reached the second floor, and from there took a long hallway that led to a plain door that opened onto another stairway. The building was like a maze, purposefully confusing, with doors that led nowhere and other doors that led in circles. No one had ever invaded the Council headquarters, but if they ever did, finding what they were searching for wouldn’t be easy.
    “Where are we going?” Luca asked, looking around to note the details of this part of the building, where he’d never been before. He reached out to touch her energy, to read her, but she was too strong and too guarded for him to see beyond the surface.
    “Here,” she said, stopping before a door and fishing a key from the pocket of her black capri pants. “I have just what you need. She’s pretty, young, and tasty.” Shelooked over her shoulder and smiled at him. “And she