Free Moonlight and Diamonds & The Vampire's Fall by Michele Hauf Page B

bro.”
    * * *
    Blyss sat before the vanity in a lace pink La Perla bra-and-panty set. Pink marabou fluffed on the toes of her kitten-heeled slippers. Carefully, she drew eyeliner beneath her lower lid. Her hair was still up in a towel, but she liked to do her eyes before drying it. Rest of the makeup was done after her hair. It was a two-hour morning ritual.
    And it was nearly noon.
    She could have lingered in bed with Stryke well into the afternoon. His skin against hers had been insanely exquisite. His hands gliding across her limbs, caressing a breast, even tracing her lips, was a feeling she didn’t ever want to forget. His mouth at hers. His moans harmonizing with hers. His hard, hot cock buried within her.
    Blyss sighed, and her reflection blinked, messing up the eyeliner.
    â€œWhat the hell am I doing?” she muttered as she swiped a tissue over the mess. “I don’t turn into a swooning schoolgirl when a man knows how to make love to me. I remain calm and distant, and thank him for whatever sparkling gift he wishes to give me.”
    Stryke had gifted her gorgeous red roses. Nothing that could be resold, such as diamonds or platinum, or even a new car. She’d collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts over the years. All of which were now gone. Ransomed to pay for her addiction.
    â€œIt’s not an addiction,” she whispered. “It is necessity.”
    Because she couldn’t live as a werewolf. It was unthinkable.
    And she did still own one gift—the gallery. Would she have to sell it to pay for her habit?
    It wasn’t a habit; it was her lifestyle.
    The mobile phone sitting on a silver tray played the opening organ notes from Schnorr’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. The caller ID was blocked. Blyss knew exactly who it was from the ringtone. She drummed her fingers on the vanity.
    The phone rang insistently.
    She finally picked it up.
“Oui?”
    â€œMademoiselle Sauveterre.”
    Even knowing who it was, her heart dropped to her gut. And it pulsed so erratically she clutched at her stomach, feeling as though she would be sick.
    â€œYou have
Le Diabolique
?” the deeply calm yet sinister voice asked.
    It was Edamite Thrash. A demon. Her supplier.
    â€œIt is in transit. I’m to collect it tonight.”
    The diamond had been their deal. If she obtained the
Diabolique
diamond, he would forget that she owed him five hundred thousand euros and also front her for another year’s supply. Those pills were what suppressed her werewolf.
    â€œI don’t understand, Mademoiselle Sauveterre. I know the diamond has been taken from the gallery.”
    How he knew about that secret operation, a crime she intended to keep out of the media by replacing the original stone with a fake, was beyond her. She hadn’t been in to check on the fake today. There was no reason to. And if Lorcan should see it he wouldn’t be able to tell it was a fake.
    â€œI had to divert suspicion from me in order to get it out of the gallery,” she said. Any chance of Lorcan finding the diamond on her had to be reduced. The handoff to Stryke had been the only plan she could live with. She hadn’t expected the suit loan, though. “I will have it in hand tonight and can bring it to you tomorrow.”
    â€œI’ll send a car for you in the morning.” The phone clicked off.
    Blyss dropped the phone on the marble vanity. Her makeup supplies scattered, spilling across her lap, and she caught her face in her palms. Tears slid down her wrists.
    There were six pills left in the jar she kept on the vanity. And she must take one today.
    She sat up abruptly. “No.”
    Racing down the hallway and into the kitchen, she clicked on the iPad and selected the calendar app. Counting out the days, she tapped her finger on the end date. And there, at the bottom of the day square, was a tiny circle.
    â€œFull moon,” she gasped. “Oh, mercy, this