He held her gaze, but she didn't feel him so much as trying to get into her head. "You aren't like those two humans, Gabrielle. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't change any of the things that have happened to you. Your mind is stronger than most. In many ways, you are... different from most."
"Gee, I feel so lucky."
"The best place for you now is with us, where the Breed will protect you as one of our own. We have a secured compound in the city. You can stay there to start."
She frowned. "What, you're offering me the vampire equivalent of the Witness Protection Program?"
"It's a bit more than that." He turned his head, looking out through the windshield. "And it is the only way."
Lucan hit the gas and the sleek black car shot up the narrow road with a low, silky growl. Clutching the leather seat on the passenger side, Gabrielle swung her head around to watch as darkness slowly swallowed up her residential block on Willow Street.
As the distance grew wider, she saw the vague silhouettes of Megan and Ray getting into his Mustang to leave her apartment, none the wiser. Gabrielle felt a sudden jolt of panic that made her want to leap out of the car and run back to them, back to her old life.
Too late.
She knew that.
This new reality had her in a tight grasp, and she didn't think there would be any turning back, only a steady march forward. She turned away from the rear window and sank into the seat's butter-soft leather, staring straight ahead as Lucan wheeled sharply around the corner and drove her deep into the night.
Chapter Twenty
She didn't know how long they'd been driving, or even in what direction. They were still in the city, that much she could tell, but the many turns and back alley routes that Lucan took had since become a jumble in Gabrielle's mind. She stared out the dark-tinted window of the sedan, vaguely aware that they were slowing down at last, approaching what appeared to be the expansive grounds of an old estate.
Lucan braked outside a tall, black-iron gate. Twin beams of red light shot down from a pair of small devices perched on both sides of the high-security perimeter fence. Gabrielle blinked away the sudden shot of light that flashed in front of her face, then watched as the heavy gate began to slide open.
"This is yours?" she asked, turning to speak to Lucan for the first time since they'd left her apartment. "I've been here before. I took a photograph of this gate."
They rolled through, then up a long, curving, tree-lined driveway.
"The estate is part of our compound. It belongs to the Breed."
Evidently, being a vampire was quite lucrative. Even in the dark, Gabrielle could see the old-money quality of the well-tended grounds and the ornately carved limestone work on the pale façade of the mansion as they approached. Double rotundas flanked the lacquered black doors and soaring portico of the main entrance, above which rose four elegant stories.
Ambient light glowed from many of the arched windows, but Gabrielle hesitated to call the effect welcoming. The mansion loomed like a watchful sentry in the gloom of the surrounding night, stoic and forbidding, with its collection of snarling gargoyles that stared down from the roof and twin balconies overlooking the drive.
Lucan wheeled past the front entrance and around to a large hangar in the back. A gate lifted, and he rolled the purring Maybach to a stop inside, then cut the engine. A row of lights went on as the two of them climbed out of the car, the soft clicks of motion sensors illuminating a fleet of glossy, high-end machinery.
Gabrielle gaped in astonishment. Between the Maybach, which cost about as much as her modest Beacon Hill condo, and the collection of cars, SUVs, and motorcycles, she had to be looking at millions of dollars' worth of vehicles. Multimillions.
"This way," Lucan said, the duffel bag of photographs gripped in his hand as he guided her past the impressive fleet to an unmarked door near the back of the garage.
"Just how rich are you people?" she asked, trailing after him in amazement.
Lucan gestured for her to enter as the door opened then he followed her inside the elevator and pushed a button on the console. "Some members of the vampire nation have been around a very long time. We've learned a few things about managing our money wisely."
"Uh-huh," she said, feeling a little off balance as the elevator began a smooth but swift descent, down, and down, and down. "How do you keep all of this hidden from the public? What about the government and taxes? Or are you strictly a cash-and-carry operation?"
"The public can't get past our security, even if they tried. The entire perimeter of the grounds is wired. Anyone foolish enough to get close to the compound would get a fourteen-thousand-volt ass kicking and a mind scrub. We pay our taxes - through fronted corporations, of course. Our properties around the world are owned by private trusts. Everything the Breed does is legit and aboveboard."
"Legit and aboveboard. Right." She laughed, a bit nervously. "Just nevermind all the bloodsucking or the extraterrestrial lineage."
Lucan leveled a dark glance on her, but she was relieved to see the corner of his mouth lift in something that might have passed for a smile.
"I'll take the backups now," he said, his penetratingly clear gray eyes watching her as she dug the memory sticks out of her jeans pocket and placed them in his hand.
He let his fingers close around hers for a second. Gabrielle felt heat in his touch, but she didn't want to acknowledge it. She didn't want to admit what just the slightest brush of his skin made her feel, even now.
Especially now.