Vampire, Interrupted - Argeneau Series - Book 9 Page 0,1
her rounded hips, and then skipping up her stomach to her breasts, which she knew were more revealed than not by the low neckline. His eyes stopped there, the dazed look turning to a concerned frown.
"You're hurt." Tiny caught her by the chin and tipped her face up and to the side so he could get a better look at her neck. After a second, he released her with a soft curse.
"What is it?" she asked as he took her by the arm to hurry her across the room.
Marguerite glanced down at herself. There was a line of blood dripping down her upper chest and soaking into the lace neckline of her nightie. Frowning, she felt around on her throat until she found the nick in her neck. Apparently the sword had caught her as she rolled away.
"Tell me what happened," Tiny ordered as he ushered her into the en suite bathroom and flipped on the light.
"I woke up to find a man standing over the bed. He had a sword. I rolled off the bed as he swung it," Marguerite said simply, her gaze shifting out toward the bedroom and the balcony doors as he snatched up a clean washcloth and turned on the taps to wet it.
Her adrenaline was still pumping and she now found she had itchy feet. She wanted to pursue the man who'd attacked her.
"Roll faster next time," Tiny muttered, reclaiming her attention as he began to wash the blood away from her skin. He scowled as he worked, and then relaxed a little and said, "It isn't too bad. Not deep, I don't think. Just a nick."
"It will heal quickly," Marguerite said with unconcern as she moved away from him and back into the bedroom. She wasn't used to being taken care of and wasn't comfortable with it.
Her feet took her to the balcony doors, where she shifted the curtain to peer out on the bright terrace. There was no one there, and no rope or anything else to suggest how they'd got onto her balcony either.
She scowled out at the skyline. They were on the seventh and top floor. Her attacker must have climbed down from the roof.
"He was aiming to cut off your head."
Marguerite released the curtain and glanced around at that comment. Tiny was at the side of the bed, examining the slice across the mattress right where her neck had been.
She shifted on her feet, her thoughts starting to take order in her head. Her attacker had used a sword. That told her he was definitely an immortal. Mortals usually killed each other, with guns or knives. If they were trying to kill an immortal they went for the classic stake. Beheading with a sword was usually the sign of another immortal.
"Do you have enemies here in England that you forgot to mention?" Tiny asked suddenly, straightening from examining the bed to spear her with a frown.
Marguerite shook her head. "It must be connected with this case."
He raised a doubtful eyebrow. "Why? We haven't found out anything yet."
Marguerite grimaced, disgusted by their inability to unearth even a bit of information regarding their case. They were here to help Christian Notte, a five hundred-year-old immortal, find out the identity of his dead birth mother. It had sounded an easy task in the beginning, but it wasn't turning out that way. A lot of time had passed since his birth, and Christian had little information he could offer them except that he'd been born in England and his father had returned home to Italy with him when he was only two days old.
Tiny and Marguerite had started the search in England, spending the last three weeks searching through dusty church archives looking for mention of his birth or even of the name Notte. They began in the southernmost part of the country, working their way north until they'd reached Berwick-upon-Tweed. It was there that Tiny had finally suggested they question Christian again to see if there wasn't some bit of information he could give them to help narrow the search to one area, or at least one half of the country.
Relieved by the suggestion, Marguerite had promptly agreed. She'd expected private detective work to be much more interesting than it was turning out to be and was seriously reconsidering her career choice. But she'd promised to help Christian find out the identity of his mother and intended to do her best to accomplish that.