"You bitch!" His eyes bled amber fire, pupils tight slivers in their center. "I should kill you for that. I should kill the brat and you both!"
Renata hit him again, another small taste of agony. He slumped, clutching his head and moaning from the debilitating second blast. She waited, watching as he worked to collect himself from his sprawl on the floor. He didn't pose much of a threat to her like this, but in a few hours he would be recovered and she would be the vulnerable one. Then she might have a bit of hell to pay.
But for the time being, Mira was no longer of interest to Lex, and that was all that mattered.
Lex glared up at her as he dragged himself to his feet. "Get out of my...way...goddamn...whore."
The words were choked, sputtered between his gasps for breath as he clumsily moved toward the open door. When he was out of sight, his footsteps scuffing along the hallway outside, Renata went to Mira's bedside and hushed her softly.
"Are you all right, kiddo?"
Mira nodded. "I don't like him, Rennie. He scares me."
"I know, honey." Renata pressed a kiss to the child's brow. "I'm not going to let him hurt you. You're safe with me. That's a promise, right?"
Another nod, weaker this time as Mira settled her head back onto her pillow and exhaled a sleepy sigh. "Rennie?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, mouse?"
"Don't ever leave me, okay?"
Renata stared down at the innocent little face in the dark, feeling her heart squeeze tightly in her breast. "I'm not going to leave you, Mira. Not ever...just like we promised."
Chapter Eleven
The moon rose high, casting dappled light over Lake Wannsee in an exclusive area outside Berlin . Andreas Reichen leaned back in his cushioned chaise on the rear lawn of his private Darkhaven estate, trying to absorb some of the peace and quiet of the evening. Despite the warm, pleasant breeze and the calm of the night-dark water, his thoughts were morose, turbulent.
The news of the latest Gen One killing, this time in France, weighed him down. It seemed to him that the world was going increasingly mad around him. Not only the world of the Breed - his world - but that of humankind as well. So much death and destruction. So much anguish everywhere one looked.
He had the terrible feeling, deep in his gut, that this was only the beginning. Darker days were coming. Perhaps they had been coming for a long time already and he'd been too ignorant - too caught up in his own personal pleasures - to notice.
One of those pleasures came up behind him now, her elegant stride unmistakable as she walked through the estate 's manicured gardens and down onto the grass.
Helene's lithe arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Hello, darling."
Reichen reached up to caress her warm skin as she bent over him and kissed him. Her mouth was soft, lingering, her long dark hair fragrant with the lightest trace of rose oil.
"Your nephew told me when I arrived that you've been out here for the past couple of hours," she murmured, lifting her head to gaze out at the lake. "I can see why. It's a lovely view."
"It just got lovelier," Reichen said, as he tipped his chin up and looked at her.
She smiled without coyness, having long become accustomed to his flattery. "Something is troubling you, Andreas. It's not like you to sit alone and brood."
Could she know him so well? They had been lovers for the past year, a casual dalliance that had somehow turned into something deeper if not entirely exclusive. Reichen knew Helene had other men in her life - human men - as he also occasionally took his pleasure with other women. Theirs was not a relationship plagued by jealousies or possessiveness. But that didn't mean it was devoid of affection. They shared a mutual concern for each other, and a bond of trust that extended beyond the barriers that generally made human and Breed relationships impossible.
Helene had become a friend and, of late, an indispensable partner in Reichen's important remote work with the warriors back in Boston.
Helene came around to the front of the chair and seated herself on the broad arm. "Have you relayed the news to the Order about the recent assassination in Paris?"
Reichen nodded. "I did, yes. And they tell me there was also an attempted killing in Montreal a few nights ago. At least that one failed, by some miracle of fate. But there will be others. I fear there will be many more deaths to come before the smoke finally clears. The Order is convinced they will put a stop to the madness, but there are times when I wonder if the evil at work here isn't greater than any amount of good."
"You're letting this consume you," Helene said as she idly petted his hair off his brow. "You know, if you were looking for something to do with your time, you could have come to me instead of the Order. I could have put you to work at the club as my personal assisant. It's not too late to change your mind. And I assure you, the fringe benefits alone would be worth it."
Reichen chuckled. "Tempting, indeed."
Helene bent down and nibbled his earlobe, her breath tickling and heated on his skin. "It would only be a temporary position, of course. Say twenty or thirty years - a blink of time to you. But by then I will be wrinkled and gray, and you will be eager for a new, more appealing plaything who can still keep up with your wicked demands."
Reichen was surprised to hear the twinge of wistfulness in Helene's voice. She'd never talked about the future with him, nor he with her. It was more or less understood that there could never be a future, given that she was mortal with a finite life span and he - barring prolonged UV exposure or massive bodily harm - would continue living for something close to eternity.