Page 59 of Blood Mosaic

“Yes.” He took a step closer. “I’m still going to use you as bait, but you won’t be unprotected. Neither will your mother. We were watching this house before you even arrived.”

“Why?”

“I protect my assets. And you are one of my assets now.” Oleg lifted his chin. “And, of course, bait is useless if a trap isn’t well-set.”

A voice called from inside the house. “That I will believe.”

“Mama,” Tatyana barked, “be quiet.”

Oleg smiled. “You’re right. She doesn’t trust charming men. And I don’t think you do either.”

The barrel of the shotgun dipped a little bit. “Are all those men dead?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t feel bad about that, do you?”

He took another step forward. “Not even a little bit. I warned them. Twice.”

She nodded a little bit. “And you’re a… what? What are you?”

He took another careful step. “I am Oleg Sokolov, immortal lord of Kievan Rus, sired of earth and born to fire, vampire heir of Truvor the Red… and your boss.”

Tatyana’s face leached of the bright color her temper had provoked. “Zaraisyour child, isn’t she? And she’s a vampire too.”

“Unfortunately yes.”

“And she stole money from you. Thirty million dollars.”

Oleg nodded. “It’s probably closer to fifty million, but it’s not the amount that’s the issue. It’s the fact that she stole, and she cannot be allowed to get away with that. Not in my world.”

Tatyana nodded for a long time, staring at him without saying anything; Oleg could see a thousand questions racing through her mind.

“Invite me in.” He walked up the steps to the old wooden porch. He could smell her now. Smell her mother. Smell the memories in the house and the sour scent of fear in the air. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to protect you. I can tell you have questions, and I’m willing to answer them. But you have to invite me in.”

Her eyes lit up. “You can’t come in, can you? You can’t enter my house without an invitation, so if I?—”

Oleg stepped his foot over the threshold, and Tatyana gasped. “I can come in.”

She cursed under her breath.

“But I won’t without your permission,” he continued, “because I prefer it.”

“Invite him in,” Anna called from inside the house. “You’re letting the cold in, Tanya. Just invite the vampire in.”

Tatyana lowered the shotgun and set it by the door, then stepped to the side and said nothing, her jaw clenched in anger.

“Come in, Mr. Sokolov,” Anna said. “I’ll make some tea.”

As Oleg walked past Tatyana, he leaned down and whispered in her ear. “You know, I don’t mind the garlic but it’s not my favorite perfume.”

“Fuck you,” Tatyana whispered.

“Oh, volchitsa.” Oleg smiled. “I do look forward to your teeth.”

Chapter Fourteen

Tatyana spent the night listening to Oleg reassure her mother that Tatyana would be safe with vampires. All his arguments were rational, and her mother had seemed reassured, and Tatyana felt like she was in the middle of someone else’s life.

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