Page 6 (1/2)

FROM MOLDAVIA WITH LOVE

As evening fell, his blood rose His eyes clicked open in the dark Through the afternoon, he&039;d slept the sleep of the dead in a shuttered rooretted the loss of those periods of half-sleep he had enjoyed as a war love to a beautiful woman, he would relish the slow departure of consciousness As a va out a light Hiswith his heart It was compensation that he only needed three or four hours&039; sleep - coffin-tiiven month

At once he kneas not alone

He had sealed the door and the s, of course He would have been alerted if the seals had fallen

&039;It&039;s no use lying still, Commander Bond,&039; purred a silky voice &039;I saw your eyes open&039;

The room was pitch dark His companion was like hi on the Walther PPK under the covers He slept in a Japanese pyjahtly at the waist

He could see in the dark too

She was on the other side of the rooant nostrils One of his cigarettes angled like a scalpel between her long, slender fingers

She was sitting naked in an arh she had the throat for jade and the earlobes for diaht back from a pronounced &039;s peak and cascaded over wide shoulders and onto proud breasts

Her face was broad, Slavic with an alestions of epicanthic folds Her face was the beautiful an idol, luxuriant lips parted sweetly to afford a glis

He knew at once she was an elder

Her crossed legs were long He appreciated the stretch of velvet-sheathed muscle from hip to knee Halfway down her shins, flesh and bone thinned, trailing away into a wisp of white mist

He&039;d heard of the trick, but never seen it done She&039;d willed herself to beco, flowed under the locked and trip-wired door, then reassembled herself in his armchair

The last of the mist coalesced into sculptured white feet

&039;Bravo,&039; he complimented her

&039;I don&039;t knohy I went to the trouble,&039; she said, vowels s over an old accent &039;A very expensive Bal crus that are sure to be stolen Oh, and twenty tiny petals of dried nail polish&039;

She flicked away the still-burning cigarette and stood, delightfully immodest She crossed to the s and opened the shutters The last light of sunset gave her skin an inviting glow An inrush of air disturbed her htly at the ends, like a row of tiny fishhooks

&039;I&039;ht hand pressed to her heart &039;You knoho I areat-aunt is Princess Asa Vajda, the Royal Fiancee I&039;m to be a bridesmaid You should see the abominable dress they wantthe presence of this wild creature But he would never be off his guard around so on all fours like a vixen His hand closed on nothing

&039;Looking for this?&039;

She dangled the pistol froer

&039;You&039;re very fleet&039;

She giggled, nastily &039;And you&039;re very fortunate&039;

Anibas tossed the pistol across the room and touched his face

&039;Your Mr Winthrop said he was sending ift,&039; she said &039;Do you think I&039;m pleased?&039;

&039;You can always throw me back into the sea&039;

&039;I think not,&039; she said Nails like razors drew across his face, a fraction of an ounce of pressure away fro the skin &039;I think I keep&039;

Even a oht She had the legs of a runner and the hands of a karate expert She was a va with him If she meant instant harm, she could have ripped his heart out while he slept

He&039;d told Beauregard that Winthrop had people close to Dracula That was soeration The several vampires of il principe&039;s household who reported to the Diogenes Club were probably doubles, letting slip only what their e

This was the woed scars across his chest, sliding his jacket over his shoulder

With the e, the House of Vajda would be absorbed into the House of Dracula A pecking-order that had been secure for centuries would change Genuine discontents were stirring and could be turned to England&039;s advantage

&039;My great-great-aunt is a horrifyingly dull woman,&039; Anibas whispered &039;You would not like her at all&039;

&039;Does she knohere you are?&039;

&039;Undoubtedly She&039;s been suspicious forever, always seeing conspiracies against her She thinks every unfah her eyes She is an embarrassment&039;

Of course, Anibas wished to take the Princess&039;s place The long lives of elders were an inconvenience for poor relations waiting to inherit estates, titles and positions

&039;I&039;ve signed myself in to the hotel under another name Sabina Clever, hein? It&039;s my name in a mirror Sabina Anibas&039;

Why were vampires so enamoured of that trick? Had anybody ever been duped by an alias like &039;Alucard&039;? If he were to sign hotel registers as &039;D Nob&039;, no one would ever be fooled Was it an elders&039; quirk he&039;d come to appreciate?

&039;You and I,&039; she said, face close to his, &039;we are to plot, are we not? To scheme and plan like snake and swine To the ruination of Princess Asa and the abandonment of this unwise match? What need we Vajda of the thin blood of Vlad Tepes? We were ancient and honoured when he was buggering Turks with large sticks Rightfully, he should crawl to us&039;