Читать книгу: «Blood Calls»

The air rushed against his body, but barely cooled the heat of the demon driving him.

He landed on the ledge of Ramona’s building, and imagined her down below, standing before one of her canvases, stroking the brush across the surface. Immediately the erotic paintings she’d completed came to mind, reawakening his desire. A desire only she could satisfy.

He crept towards the skylight and glanced down. There she was, lying in bed, the sheets in disarray around her naked body.

Diego groaned and reared back, knowing how wrong it was and yet drawn to the sight. This was all he could allow himself with her – this distant passion. Anything else was wrong on so many levels.

She was human. He wasn’t.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caridad Piñeiro was born in Havana, Cuba, and settled in the New York metropolitan area. She attended Villanova University on a presidential scholarship and graduated magna cum laude. Caridad earned her Juris Doctor from St John’s University and became the first female and Latino partner of Abelman, Frayne & Schwab.

Caridad is a multi-published author whose love of the written word developed when her fifth-grade teacher assigned a project – to write a book that would be placed in a class lending library. She has been hooked on writing ever since.

Articles featuring Caridad’s works have been published in various magazines and newspapers. Caridad has appeared on Fox’s Good Day New York, New Jersey Network’s Jersey’s Talking with Lee Leonard and WGN-TV’s Adelante Chicago. Caridad was also one of the Latino authors featured at the first ever Spanish Pavilion at the 2000 Chicago BookExpo America. In 2006 Caridad made an appearance at BookExpo America as one of the authors helping launch Nocturne.

Caridad’s novels have been nominated for various readers’ and reviewers’ choice awards, including Affaire de Coeur and RIO awards.

When not writing, Caridad is a mum, wife and lawyer. Caridad also teaches workshops on various topics related to writing and heads a writing group at a local bookstore. For more information on Caridad’s books, contests and appearances, or to contact Caridad, please visit www.caridad.com.

Dear Reader,

Sometimes I can’t believe that we’re here, at book six in THE CALLING series. When I wrote the first novel, Darkness Calls, everyone told me I would never be able to sell a story with vampires, but Mills & Boon believed in the story and in me. I am eternally grateful for that since it provided me the opportunity to create this very different cross-genre series that’s a little bit suspense, a little bit vamp and a little bit romance.

I’ve loved seeing the growth of the characters from the first book and allowing you to become involved in the underworld of Manhattan vampires. I hope you’re enjoying the continuing mention of characters such as Melissa and Sebastian, and I promise that Maggie and David will soon have their story! I know how popular David has been with so many of you and how sad it may have been to realise that in Death Calls David was paralysed as a result of being injured during the terrorist attack.

I’m working on another three books in the series with yet more of the characters you’ve come to know – Blake and Stacia for starters, as well as Diana and Ryder again because their story is the foundation of the entire series. Yes, it’s true! In a future book, Diana and Ryder will face yet another challenge to their love, one which will propel the series into totally new ground. I hope you’ll be back for more! Thanks for all your support and belief in THE CALLING.

Sincerely,

Caridad

Blood Calls

CARIDAD PIÑEIRO

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Leslie Wainger, who believed in my vampires

from the very start and gave me this amazing

opportunity to share them with you.

Prologue

1491, Galicia, Spain

The thought of slowly strangling the life from his wife made the flogging almost bearable for Diego Rivera.

As each lash stripped another bit of skin from his back, he imagined his hands encircling her throat. Imagined himself watching her eyes bulge as he exerted pressure and heard the crack of cartilage beneath his fingers.

The pleasure of his near-delirium daydream evaporated as one particularly sadistic blow penetrated his defenses and his body jerked spasmodically.

“Madre de Dios,” he gasped as fire erupted between his shoulder blades. Beside the heat of the whip as it tore into his flesh, Diego sensed a warmth that could only be blood trickling down his back.

“Confess your sins, convert. It will go easier if you tell us the truth,” the Inquisitor urged from his spot a few feet away. Beside him sat a physician whose job it was to make sure the heretic wasn’t too far gone to confess.

This business of saving lives wasn’t supposed to kill anyone, Diego thought cynically, then laughed out loud.

The sound bounced off the stone walls of the room, shocking his torturers, who looked at him as if he was crazy. Maybe he was, Diego mused, as he heard the eerie echo of his laughter, sounding too much like that of a madman.

As the physician rose from the chair and walked toward him, Diego realized they would stop the punishment now and wait for him to be more lucid. That was the way it had been for weeks now. Maim, wait, repeat.

It was the way it would be today.

The physician jerked his head toward Diego, and two guards quickly undid the shackles that had been cutting into his wrists. Released from his bondage, he slumped and would have fallen to the ground if not for the guards, who dragged him from the chamber toward the small cell that had held him prisoner for nearly a month now.

They tossed him inside unceremoniously. He landed roughly on the floor, his head smacking against the cobblestones, since his arms were too feeble to break his fall.

What was one more bruise? he thought as the chilly humidity of the cell quickly registered his burning flesh. He shivered violently, which brought renewed pain to his mangled back and sore arms. He tried to quell the chatter of his teeth and swore he would get vengeance on those who had betrayed him.

He didn’t know how long a time passed before the slight scuffle of footsteps on the stone floor drew his attention.

“Esperanza?” He glanced upward and smiled as the familiar face of the plain servant girl from his home crept into his vision. Esperanza had been sneaking into the prison to care for him.

“Don Diego, I’m so sorry,” she said as she dabbed at his back with a moist cloth.

At his groan, she explained, “This will keep it from getting infected.”

Diego knew she meant well, but keeping him alive would only benefit the Inquisitor. He gently laid a hand on her thigh as she knelt beside him. “You are a good girl, Esperanza.”

Her gasp confused him. In her vibrant brown eyes, however, he finally saw why she risked her life to help him—she was in love with him. In a way, he cared for her, as well.

Diego had barely noticed her the entire time that she labored in his home. He had been too busy whoring with many more beautiful women, including his own bitch of a wife. His infidelities had been the reason that his wife had lied about him and turned him over to the Inquisitor. Backing her claims that he was a relapsed convert was a lower nobleman who coveted Diego’s properties and wife.

God help the poor man when he discovered the real nature of the harridan Diego had married.

A woman nothing like kind and gentle Esperanza, he thought, passing his hand over her cheek. Her skin was soft and smooth and remarkably creamy in color, in sharp contrast to the deep auburn of her hair.

“Do not come again, little one. I am not worth your life,” he said, and in truth, he meant it. Selfish and materialistic, he had not been a good man up until now. It had taken this unfortunate encounter with the Inquisitor to make him realize he needed to change.

“Don Diego—”

“Promise me you will stay away.” As tears filled her eyes and spilled over, he whispered, “I will never forget you.”

She kissed his cheek, then rose and rushed from his cell.

He didn’t expect the loneliness that followed her departure. It was a greater torture than any the Inquisitor could visit on him.

Loneliness had been with him for most of his life, he had realized in the weeks of numbing pain and solitary confinement within this small cell.

He vowed that if he survived, he would strive to change that. Strive to do good.

God had to have visited this torture on him for a reason, and he wasn’t about to question why he had been called.

He just intended to answer when the time was right.

Chapter 1

2007, New York City

Passion.

It didn’t exist in every person who graced the earth, Diego suspected. Only a handful truly knew what it meant to live their lives with such intensity. In the five hundred years since a vampire’s kiss had turned him into an immortal, Diego had surrounded himself with artists and others who lived life to the fullest. Who lived life with passion.

Ramona Escobar was such a person, Diego decided as he looked over the latest work she had done.

As he strolled back and forth in front of the six paintings, the vibrant colors called to him, as did the amazing movement and life splashed across the canvases. Beneath it all shimmered the sensuality of the scenes Ramona had depicted in her works—a study of men and women in various stages of making love.

He considered how to best display these paintings in his gallery. He had no doubt he would do so, since they were as wonderful as the others Ramona had done over the years, except…

A yearning existed in these works he hadn’t seen before. A need that connected to something deep within him. He had to take a shaky breath to quell the desire that rose in him as he perused one piece. He was sure other people would feel the same and that the paintings would fetch a good price. Possibly an immense price. Thanks to the many centuries he had mingled with the artsy set, he knew how to recognize talent.

“These are wonderful,” he said.

Petite and slender, Ramona stood beside him, wiping paint off her hands with a rag.

“Do you think so?” she asked, clearly uncertain. He wondered, as he had more than once during the half-dozen years he’d known her, about the kind of woman she was. One with passion mixed with equal parts humility and doubt. She had matured since the day he had met her, during her final year of art school. He had been intrigued back then by the young, tough ragamuffin with so much talent, but little ego.

But then again, had she been a braggadocio like some other artists he had encountered, he doubted their professional relationship would have lasted this long. Diego did not suffer fools or braggarts. They reminded him too much of how he had been before beginning his eternal life.

Driving that thought from his mind, he said, “Truly unique. They will sell well.”

“Que bueno. When do you think you can show them?” She continued wiping her hands with the cloth, the gesture telling.

Diego laid his hand over hers. Her fingers were cold, which worried him. “Is something wrong, amiga? If it’s money—”

“I know you would give it to me. It’s nothing, really,” Ramona said, and looked up at Diego’s remarkable face.

He was so handsome and so honorable. When she had first met him, she had been struck by his elegance and beauty. In the many years they had known each another, he had always done right by her, showing her that his beauty went far beyond his physical attributes. He would do right by her this time, as well.

“I’m fine. Let me know when you want to do the show.” She hoped to finish raising the money she needed to care for her mother.

He stroked her hand once again in a gentle gesture, and, unnerved by his touch, because it made her think of things that weren’t possible, she walked away from him. At the table holding her paints and brushes, she set down the cloth.

Diego glanced at the paintings once more before striding toward her. As always, he was impeccably dressed, in a suit that emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist. The blue silk brought out the color of his intense ice-blue eyes.

When he stood before her, he tossed his head, sending the longish strands of his artfully highlighted, nutmeg-brown hair back, which emphasized the strong lines of his pale face.

Ramona had always been intrigued by his looks, a product of the Celtic roots in his part of Spain. A Gallego to the core, he would often tease her when she mentioned her own mixed heritage—part cubana, part Newyorican and part Irish. The only thing they had in common was a bit of the Celt.

Not to mention that no one had to tell her Diego had known wealth all his life. He had the easy confidence of a man who had never experienced true want.

She on the other hand had known nothing but want since the death of her father, and her mother’s illness. And of course, her own illness now.

Ramona was a hard-luck gal, with the hardest luck of all to face—the possibility that she might soon die.

She hadn’t said anything to anyone. Not that she had anyone to say it to, she thought sadly as Diego bent and hugged her. Returning the embrace, she imagined it being more than friendly.

She was shocked when he turned, brushed a kiss across her cheek and whispered, “I’m here if you need me.”

At first it had been just business between them, which slowly developed into friendship over the last six or so years. But beneath it all, even from the first, there had been awareness of him as a man—a very attractive man. She had kept her distance, however, knowing of his involvement with Esperanza. But Esperanza had been dead for over a year now.

Ramona reached up and cradled his cheek, brushed her thumb across his lips. Those fine, full lips she had captured forever on the canvas. Had he seen that in the paintings? she wondered. Had he seen that it was him being loved by the stroke of her brush?

“I know, Diego. I’m fine. Really,” she replied, but eased out of his embrace. It would be unfair to both of them to head down a road that could bring nothing but pain.

His mouth tightened at her withdrawal, but then he promised to call her later that afternoon about the dates for her show.

“The sooner the better, so I can see Mami,” she reminded him.

Her mami was too ill to go out alone anymore, which was why Ramona was in a rush to hold the show. Together with the money she had made from creating some copies for millionaire recluse Frederick van Winter, a good exhibit would help her earn enough to hire care for her mother well after Ramona was gone.

She just had to hold on a little longer, she told herself as she walked Diego to the door and let him out of her loft.

She was feeling the weakness that came when she overextended herself. It was time to rest. Soon she would be even too frail to paint, and when that happened…

Without her beloved art, maybe she would be better off dead.

Diego flipped the pages of his calendar, trying to find a slot where he could have a showing of Ramona’s paintings.

Fortunately for him, business had been good lately and he had few days available. Unfortunate for Ramona, however. He had gotten the sense that she desperately needed the showing. Maybe money was tight again, he thought, remembering that Ramona’s mother had been ill and her care might be a financial drain on the struggling artist.

Although she’d taken advances from him in the past, she had always repaid them from her sales, not that he had asked for repayment.

Centuries of life had made it possible for him to amass quite a fortune. He really had no need of this gallery, but art had always fascinated him. Bored with an eternal existence of doing nothing, he had opened this shop nearly ten years ago after the suicide of a promising young artist he had known. The artist’s death had awakened the art world, making him famous posthumously and convincing Diego that he wanted to become a patron of the arts and prevent similar fates for others. He loved the passion and life of the artists. Loved discovering someone who might be the next Velázquez, Goya, Manet or Picasso, all gentlemen he had been lucky enough to meet thanks to his vampire existence.

Then there were the many parties he was able to host when he did a showing. They reminded him of the days before his wife’s betrayal, when he’d held such fetes at his estate, many times for an artist whom he had commissioned to do a work for him.

Not to mention that gathering with so many mortals let him make believe for a moment that he was like them. That he was still human.

Human like Ramona, he thought, recalling their embrace earlier that day and the sense of rightness he had felt. The desire that had arisen as he smelled her skin and felt her hair against his face.

All wrong sensations, Diego reminded himself. After his wife’s betrayal he had vowed never to let another beautiful face fool him.

Not to mention that Ramona was mortal, and developing any feelings for her would only lead to pain. He couldn’t deal with that right now. He had barely recovered from the grief of Esperanza’s passing, the woman to whom he had been faithful for five hundred years.

Searching through the schedule once more, he realized there were no openings for at least another two months.

Recalling Ramona’s face that morning, he knew she couldn’t wait.

He picked up the phone and dialed. As the man answered, he said, “Julio, I’ve got a favor to ask…”

Ramona couldn’t believe her luck. A last-minute problem with another painter had allowed Diego to schedule her showing in a little over a week.

She slept well that night for the first time in months, which left her feeling so refreshed, she decided to give herself a treat. She would go to the auction house for a final viewing of the masterpieces Mr. van Winter was selling off.

She applauded his generosity in donating the funds raised from the sale to the charitable organization his family had founded so many centuries earlier. The van Winter Foundation aided many different causes. In fact, part of her college scholarship had come from a small donation the foundation had made to her art school.

It must have been a difficult decision to donate such amazing works of art. Despite that, Ramona had been slightly troubled by the reclusive millionaire’s desire to have copies of the famous works.

She didn’t know how he had gotten her name. She only knew that she had been recommended to him as someone with the skills to create worthy imitations of the masterpieces. Despite her misgivings, the money he had offered was more than she could turn down, given her current situation.

She had accepted the job and spent nearly six months painfully and painstakingly recreating the works of the masters.

It had been inspiring to be in the company of such genius. Maybe that was why her latest paintings were so amazing. So filled with passion and yearning.

Or maybe it was something inside of her, calling her to lay her heart on the canvas so that when she passed, someone might know that she had existed. That she had been filled with love, but hadn’t found anyone to share it with.

Unless Diego—

Before she let that thought go where it shouldn’t, she showered, dressed and headed to the auction house for a last glimpse of the paintings. She didn’t regret paying the money to enter the exhibit and see them, only…

Dios mio, this couldn’t be right, she thought as she stared at the works on display for the world to see. Three supposed masterpieces, but the longer she stared at them, the more it became obvious that it was her brushstrokes on the canvases. As careful as she had been to recreate those of the masters, an artist always recognized her own work.

Maybe it was a mistake, she thought as she went from painting to painting and carefully examined them for any trace that would tell her they hadn’t been done by Ramona Escobar, a mutt of dubious origins with no claim to fame in the art world.

But as she lingered before each painting, scrutinizing every line, loitering over each shadow and color, she realized this was her work being shown. These were her copies and not the originals. And each had been signed with the name of the original artist—something she had not done because of her niggling doubt. In her mind, and possibly that of others, signing them might seem as if she intended to pass them off as the originals.

She hadn’t realized how long she had stood there until one of the guards from the auction house came up to her.

“Miss, are you okay? You look a little pale.”

Ramona’s stomach roiled with anxiety. She placed a hand there to quell its nervous motion.

“Thank you. I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed by their beauty,” she said, and glanced at her watch, finally realizing that she had been there for several hours.

The old man smiled at her and nodded. “They are amazing, aren’t they? Mr. van Winter was so kind to donate them to his foundation.”

“Yes, very kind,” she said, although in her heart she was beginning to question his generosity and intent.

Or maybe she was wrong in being a doubting Thomas. Maybe the copies were on display to protect the originals. Gazing at the old man and at the other guard at the door, she realized that security measures seemed to be minimal in this area.

That must be the reason, she told herself, but the little voice in her head wouldn’t be silenced.

And maybe pigs can fly.

She had no other choice but to attend tomorrow’s sale and see for herself which paintings were placed on the auction block.

Diego wanted a last look at the masterpieces. It had been nearly a century since he had seen the Manet.

He had wanted to attend the public exhibition the day before, but Simon, his keeper, had been feeling unwell. Much like Diego, Simon had never really recovered from losing Esperanza, or from the events leading up to her death.

Simon had been caring for Diego and Esperanza, tending to their vampire needs, for nearly a century now, his human life prolonged by the special bite Diego could bestow.

But now the old man said he was tired, and refused to accept the bite that would prolong his life.

Diego understood. Simon wanted to let his life run its natural course. He was ready for what awaited him on the other side.

Diego would honor Simon’s unspoken request and the vow he himself had made centuries earlier not to turn another human. After saving Esperanza by turning her, he had dealt with her grief as she witnessed the death of all their loved ones. He had seen her longing every time a mother passed by with a baby in her arms, something Esperanza would never experience.

Her grief and despair had altered her. Although he’d still loved her, he had recognized how needy she had become of him, the one constant in her life. That neediness had made her jealous and petty at times, dependent to the point of almost smothering his love for her.

It had almost kept him from making Simon his keeper, only Simon had begged for life after they had found him in the ruins of his home following the San Francisco earthquake. The keeper’s kiss Diego had bestowed had healed some of Simon’s injuries and kept him alive to search for his family in the rubble. He had found them a day later—dead beneath the remains of their home.

As Diego had helped Simon bury them, he had seen grief like Esperanza’s in the man’s eyes. It had only made Diego regret making him a keeper, and had reinforced his decision never to use his vampire’s kiss again.

He shook off the unpleasant thoughts, comforted by the fact that he had left Simon ensconced in his favorite chair, watching a History Channel special on the San Francisco earthquake, and muttering about his own survival.

Diego pushed through the door of the auction gallery, but stopped short as he collided with a woman in his haste to see the Manet. He reached out to keep her from falling.

“I’m sorry,” he began, but smiled when he recognized Ramona. “I didn’t expect you here, little one.”

Ramona gazed up at Diego, thinking he looked as elegant and polished as ever. He had grabbed her arms to steady her, and she in turn had placed her hand on the sleeve of his overcoat. The expensive cashmere felt smooth against her fingers, in sharp contrast to the itchy wool of her own peacoat.

She pulled away from him, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her jacket, both to keep from touching him again and because the chill of the late fall night had bitten into her body.

“I came to see the auction, too,” she explained, walking toward a row with two empty chairs. But then she stopped short. “I’m sorry. I just assumed you were here alone, but if you’re with—”

“I’m with you,” he said with a smile, and confirmed her choice of seating.

Ramona told herself he was just being kind, much as he always was, but it was tough not to imagine how it might be if it were different. If he saw her not as an eccentric, reclusive painter always living on the edge, but as an attractive woman.

Although how could he? she wondered, gazing down at the coat that was a bit too big on her, thanks to all the weight she had recently lost. Even before her illness, his actions had been nothing other than brotherly. She’d always admired his faithfulness to the woman in his life.

When she sat, he paused to remove his overcoat, and revealed yet another fine silk suit and shirt. The top two buttons of the shirt were open, exposing the curly, light brown hairs on his chest. She wondered whether that hair would be crisp beneath her fingers.

“Ramona?” Diego said, and she realized that he had asked her a question.

“I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“Do you want to take your coat off?”

Cold lingered in her body from the autumn night, so she shook her head. “Not just yet.”

He sat beside her, his size and strength striking her again, but she had little time to think about him as the auctioneer came to the podium.

She leaned forward, eagerly watching as a covered painting was brought in and placed on the easel. A hush fell over the room, replaced by murmurs when the painting was unveiled and the auctioneer named the opening price. Fifteen million dollars.

She held her breath, examining the painting from afar. She told herself it must be the original, but once again her artist’s eye could pick out the differences. Why hadn’t anyone at the auction house seen that this wasn’t the authentic masterpiece? Why didn’t any of the prospective buyers realize it?

As the bidding for the painting climbed ever higher, she shifted closer and closer to the edge of the chair, her arms wrapped tight around her to ward off the frost filling her body. When the bidding ended at thirty million, she gasped, shocked by both the price and the fact that it seemed as if van Winter was going to get away with his deception.

Diego’s hand lit on her back, and she glanced over her shoulder and met his concerned gaze.

“Estas bien?” he asked, rubbing his hand against her shoulder in a soothing gesture.

“I’m fine. I just can’t imagine…” She wanted to say that she couldn’t believe that no one had realized the fraud, not even Diego, who was usually so astute.

“It is a lot, but one day you may command similar prices.”

“Sure. When I’m dead,” she muttered, and Diego chuckled, not realizing the irony behind her statement.

“Do not worry, little one. Your day will come.”

She forced a smile and fixed her attention back up at the front of the room. As had happened for the first painting, the next two were sold swiftly.

All three of her paintings fetched a grand total of nearly one hundred and twenty million dollars. She wanted to stand up and shout to everyone that they had been deceived, but who would believe her?

This was one of the city’s better known auction houses, selling off paintings for one of the world’s richest men, and she was no one.

Merely the struggling unknown who had unwittingly helped him carry out the deception.

A sick feeling twisted her gut, and the chill that hadn’t left her all night made her numb inside, weak, she realized as she tried to stand, and found that her legs were a little wobbly. The anxiety and the late hour had taken their toll on her.

“Ramona?” Diego questioned, but she couldn’t answer as spots began to dance before her eyes.

She had pushed herself way too much, she realized as Diego slipped his arm around her waist, providing stability.

“Let me get you home,” he said, and she didn’t argue, lacking the strength to make the trip on her own.

Besides, she needed to conserve her strength for what would be a tough road ahead—proving that van Winter had sold forgeries, and even more importantly, clearing her name of any involvement in the crime.