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She rinsed herit pound away the tension, forcing herself to put aside herthem far into the back of her , how she would survive long enough to break away someday, to take Liz and make a life for the two of the Kari heavily on her hips, and Mirabelle tugged at it, trying to settle it cos Her clothes were unrelieved black--ankle length skirt, t-shirt and loose black sweater, even a scarf to hide her long blond hair Her shoes were black Nikes, and she wore black old lady socks that rose above her knees, as if soht of even the tiniest bit of her flesh would prove an irresistible temptation to the male vampires of Jabril’s court
Mirabelle didn’t feel irresistible or tely, and she looked resentfully at the richly dressed ade clothed themselves in silks and soft wools in a rainbow of vibrant color
Mirabelle was the only female vampire on the estate For that matter, she’d never even h she knew they existed Jabril Karim rarely sired female vamps Normally, he had no use for women beyond the nutritional value of their blood and the sex that came with it--and his basement stable of human blood slaves provided that He’d made an exception in Mirabelle’s case, because she had so else he wanteda lot of ure out a way to get to thea vampire could be considered alive She didn’t know the science of the ht it would be worth dying for good just to keep Jabril fro his slio after Liz that much harder, plus she’d be well and truly dead and unable to enjoy his reaction, so that kind of took away from the satisfaction of the whole idea
With an effort, she forced her thoughts away fro more pleasant, what little there was to choose from She wondered where Liz was Not that her little sister ever ventured into this part of the house at night There were only two types of beings in this room--vampires and food If you weren’t one, you were the other And Liz was determined to be neither, an aspiration Mirabelle had every intention of seeing realized Bad enough Jabril had succeeded in turning her; she would not stand by and let him turn her little sister as well
A ripple of lanced up through her lashes It was a big rooreat" room her parents’ architect had called it, with broad pillars dotted throughout the empty space The pillars were only for effect--Mirabelle knew fro here that they were quite hollow and not at all the marble monoliths they appeared to be But that had been before her parents had died, before Jabril had clai in this room, not anymore A familiar wave of sadness rolled over her as she rerand receptions and parties of Texas society--fund raisers hosted by her parents and others, charitable events where guests stood around sipping cocktails and eating dainty finger foods before writing big tax deductible checks
She sighed Jabril had changed the room to suit himself, of course He’d had most of the furniture removed--there was no need for couches or chairs when no one was permitted to sit, except hi the walls interspersed with huge verdigris urns whose pale green reflected off the near white of the lass-paned doe She relass, filling the big room with--
She jerked her attention back to the present as double doors burst open to one side, and a hulking, half-naked va soe hiaze They’d all learned long ago that Calixto’s idea of a challenge was unpredictably flexible, depending on his ht heal injuries quickly, but the pain still hurt like hell The bodyguard stepped out of the doorway, standing to one side and nodding respectfully into the unseen rooal nod of approval for his guard’s diligence In appearance, the vahtly curled hair worn short, and dark chocolate eyes that were large and round, almost bulbous, with a yellow sclera To Mirabelle, they had always looked wet--big, wet, yellow eyes Yuck
She dropped her own gaze quickly as he approached her Jabril Karim al Subaie was the scion of a very traditional and conservative Arab family who’d been allies of the Saud dynasty for centuries, longer than even Jabril had been alive He demanded respectful and submissive behavior from his servantsand his woant leather shoes beneath his perfectly tailored trousers stopped in front of her lowered gaze She waited, not daring to look up
"Mirabelle, ht not to curl her lip at the endear affection between them If she was his treasure, it was only in the most literal sense
"My lord," she all but whispered
"I wonder, my dear, if you have heard from Elizabeth lately?"