Part 11 (1/2)

Giovanni rose above their behavior and sat with me while I ate and we talked about taking me back to his home for a while. He seemed to think that it was less stressful on me. He was right. I wanted to go. I missed his villa. I missed Tuscany. After Pallo's redecorating job, the farmhouse no longer felt like home. Tuscany did.

Caradoc and James helped me clear the table and James insisted on cleaning the kitchen. He told me that he'd rather wash a thousand dishes than to go back into that room. I understood where he was coming from. I kissed his cheek and smiled at him.

”You're too good to me, James.”

”Don't I know it, luv.”

I grabbed a couple bottles of wine and headed back out into the dining room. Malita was practically under the table. For a split second I thought she might be giving Pallo a blow-job. My gaze flickered toward Mikhail and he put his hands up. She was out of control and he knew it. I walked past her and handed the bottles of wine to Mikhail.

”If you would be so kind as to do the honors,” I said.

He smiled. Malita rose up slowly in her seat and gave me a dirty look. I wanted to take one of the bottles of wine and smash it over her blonde head, but hey, I had new furniture now. I had to treat it nicely and red wine on it wasn't so nice.

Pallo and Caleb were leaning in talking quietly to each other. Caleb looked up at me. ”Gwen, what's this about an attack?”

My denim duster covered the now almost gone scars, but I still wore traces of the attack. Pallo looked at Giovanni. I knew he still blamed him for it. I walked over to Giovanni and stood behind him. I put my hands on his shoulders and rubbed them. Both Caleb's and Pallo's faces' hardened.

”It was nothing, really ... well, it was kind of serious, but we never saw them again, so it's fine.”

Pallo lifted a brow. ”I would not say nearly bleeding to death and needing my strength to survive was fine.”

His strength to survive? What the h.e.l.l was he talking about? Giovanni touched my hand. ”Bella, it is why you saw him so many times. Your body had to borrow the strength of your maker for a while to heal.”

”Borrow strength? My maker? So, what are you guys telling me? Is Pallo my master now?”

Giovanni tightened his grip on my hand. Caleb looked sick to his stomach. I'm sure my face matched his. Pallo on the other hand appeared pleased with himself. ”Gwyneth, no one leads you around, right?”

Malita peered down the end of her nose at me. ”You really are an ungrateful b.i.t.c.h. He saved your life more than once and this is the thanks you give him?”

Mikhail put his hand on her arm. She tossed it off. She rose to her feet and her long yellow floral dress was wrinkled from trying to play footsie with Pallo. I watched as her eyes changed slightly. I wasn't the only one who noticed. The whole room stood. I pulled my power up and stared at her. If the b.i.t.c.h wanted to play, I'd play.

”No ... it's fine,” I said to everyone. They looked uneasy but sat back down.

Malita's mouth curved into a smile. She showed me that she was partially changed and that her teeth were growing larger. When she spoke, her voice was a touch deeper. ”You take everything in your life for granted, Princess. You have the love of three men and have caught the eye of a fourth.” She glanced at Mikhail, so did everyone else. He squirmed in his seat, but didn't deny it.

You have got to be kidding me.

Malita kept her gaze on Mikhail and her voice lost its edge. ”They have all had her and she twisted their minds. She has no soul, no conscience. Look what she did to Pallo all those years ago. She got knocked up by that one.” She pointed at Caleb. He glanced at me. I tightened my fist. ”That's not even good enough for her, no she's got to figure out a way to show back up, alive and try and ruin their lives again. What, Gwyneth, the first time not enough for you? You planning on turning them all against each other again? Maybe it will end the same, with them finding you dead ... again.”

I was so furious with her that I could feel the tiny hairs on the back of my arm standing on end, anxious to get to attack her with my power. Most of my anger came from the fact that she was right about so many things. Things I hated about myself and my situation. I wanted to say something to her, but she continued.

”Look at you standing behind Giovanni for support-for protection. You know he once told me about you while he was f.u.c.king me.” She waited for the shock on my face. It came and she smiled. ”Yeah, he f.u.c.ked me and so did he.” She pointed at Pallo. ”You're not the only one who can lure the men to you, Gwyneth.”

I let my voice drop lower, as well. ”Very true, Malita, but they've never once mentioned you while they were f.u.c.king me, so what does that say?”

Mikhail spit his wine across the table and Caleb slid his chair back. Malita turned her attention to Caleb.

”How can you stand to be near her? Her whoring around cost your unborn baby its life... Oh, don't look surprised, we all know the story. Maybe if she could have kept her legs shut, she'd have kept Giovanni from wanting to kill her, but then she couldn't have tossed them open for you. Since the baby never saw the light of day anyways, I guess that would have been better. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d of a child would have been a wh.o.r.e like its mother and ....”

Pallo jumped up and grabbed Malita by her throat. Caleb was two steps behind him grabbing his arm. ”Don't do this, Pallo, she's not worth it.”

Pallo loosened his grip on her and backed away.

Malita was livid. ”Oh, sure protect her and her b.a.s.t.a.r.d sp.a.w.n, but you know it's true. The baby would have been a lying, manipulative, weak, s.l.u.t like her mother.”

Pallo slapped Malita's face. I normally don't condone that kind of behavior, but I wanted to slit her throat so it was best I wasn't consulted. Giovanni grabbed my hand tighter. He turned and locked gazes with me. ”His mother is none of those things and he was not a b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

”He?” Pallo's face paled. ”I had a son?”

Giovanni nodded and my legs shook. Malita glanced at Pallo. ”No ... no, you couldn't have been the baby's father. You told me she got pregnant by the faerie.”

Caleb stepped in. ”As much as I wanted to be the father, I wasn't. It was Pallo, and I was okay with that. I couldn't have a child with Gwen, but I wanted one desperately.”

Malita glanced around the room wildly. ”You're all crazy. Every last one of you is crazy.” Her focus settled on me. ”It's in your blood to try and control us. You think you're so much better than us all .... You'll never be my leader. I'll never bow down to you .... You'll get what's coming to you.” She pointed at Caleb. ”He's got so many people gunning for him and they'll all come for you ... the woman he's supposed to marry.” She smiled. ”They may have had a little help with knowing where to find you.”

I watched in horror as her face began to morph. White fur sprouted all over her body as her nose lengthened. Her shoulders hunched and her dress ripped off her. It seemed like minutes, but I'm sure it was only seconds before she was in full s.h.i.+fted form and leaping at me. Mikhail tried to stop her, but she thrust him backwards. Giovanni shot up out of the chair and went at her. Her mouth opened wide. I pushed Giovanni to the side and put my hand up. I sent enough power through her to light a small country's electric plant for a week. Her body jerked and she yipped. She kept going and went straight through the dining room window. I turned and watched her fall in the gra.s.s. She got back up on all fours and took off running towards the woods.

Giovanni grabbed me. ”Gwyneth, what were you thinking trying to take her on by yourself?”

Caleb walked up to the gla.s.s and touched it. His finger came away b.l.o.o.d.y. ”My guess is she was thinking of killing that b.i.t.c.h.”

”Good guess,” I said.

Chapter Nineteen.

I sat wrapped in a blanket on my bed. Caleb had seen to my needs after the shock of what had just happened had sank in. I had tried to kill Malita. I'd killed before and I hadn't felt bad about it. But almost killing her was bothering me. I wondered if it was because she was telling the truth or the truth as she knew it.

Giovanni came and wrapped his arm around me. I looked up into his dark eyes and shook my head.

”What just happened?”

He kissed my temple. ”You just received verification I am truly the monster Pallo depicts me as.”

I pulled away from him a little. I was confused and wanted to be comforted not concerned that when I woke up he'd be gone. ”No, don't do this ... What? You think because you told everyone that you know the baby was a boy that makes you a monster in my eyes? Giovanni, you took note of the fact he was a he. I've seen a vampire in a rage before ... they don't stop and take inventory. You did, which means you cared.”

A soft knock came on my door. Giovanni touched my leg and went to answer it. His body language told me that it was someone he didn't necessarily want to be opening the door for. That didn't tell me much, half the d.a.m.n house was against him-against us. He pushed the door open and stepped aside.

Pallo stood there. His white s.h.i.+rt was unb.u.t.toned and his chest was showing. His normally perfectly put together outfit looked like he'd slept in it for days. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he'd been doing. He glanced at me and then at Giovanni.

”May I come in?” he asked dryly.

”I thought you guys could go anywhere you wanted once you'd been invited in?”

Giovanni stared at Pallo and then at me. ”We can.”

Pallo was being polite, and I had totally missed it. I looked at his head of brown, wavy hair and his dark brown eyes and wondered again how all of this had gone so very wrong. Was I doomed to spend this life cleaning up the mess I'd made in the past? Karma wasn't getting me-it was biting me in my a.s.s. I nodded at Pallo and he stepped in.