Caridad Pineiro - Blood Calls

The air rushed against his body, but barely cooled the heat of the demon driving him .

He landed on the ledge of Ramona’s building, and imagined her down below, standing before one of her canvases, stroking the brush across the surface. Immediately the erotic paintings she’d completed came to mind, reawakening his desire. A desire only she could satisfy.

He crept towards the skylight and glanced down. There she was, lying in bed, the sheets in disarray around her naked body.

Diego groaned and reared back, knowing how wrong it was and yet drawn to the sight. This was all he could allow himself with her – this distant passion. Anything else was wrong on so many levels.

She was human. He wasn’t.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Caridad Piñeiro was born in Havana, Cuba, and settled in the New York metropolitan area. She attended Villanova University on a presidential scholarship and graduated magna cum laude. Caridad earned her Juris Doctor from St John’s University and became the first female and Latino partner of Abelman, Frayne & Schwab.

Caridad is a multi-published author whose love of the written word developed when her fifth-grade teacher assigned a project – to write a book that would be placed in a class lending library. She has been hooked on writing ever since.

Articles featuring Caridad’s works have been published in various magazines and newspapers. Caridad has appeared on Fox’s Good Day New York , New Jersey Network’s Jersey’s Talking with Lee Leonard and WGN-TV’s Adelante Chicago . Caridad was also one of the Latino authors featured at the first ever Spanish Pavilion at the 2000 Chicago BookExpo America. In 2006 Caridad made an appearance at BookExpo America as one of the authors helping launch Nocturne.

Caridad’s novels have been nominated for various readers’ and reviewers’ choice awards, including Affaire de Coeur and RIO awards.

When not writing, Caridad is a mum, wife and lawyer. Caridad also teaches workshops on various topics related to writing and heads a writing group at a local bookstore. For more information on Caridad’s books, contests and appearances, or to contact Caridad, please visit www.caridad.com.

Dear Reader,

Sometimes I can’t believe that we’re here, at book six in THE CALLING series. When I wrote the first novel, Darkness Calls , everyone told me I would never be able to sell a story with vampires, but Mills & Boon believed in the story and in me. I am eternally grateful for that since it provided me the opportunity to create this very different cross-genre series that’s a little bit suspense, a little bit vamp and a little bit romance.

I’ve loved seeing the growth of the characters from the first book and allowing you to become involved in the underworld of Manhattan vampires. I hope you’re enjoying the continuing mention of characters such as Melissa and Sebastian, and I promise that Maggie and David will soon have their story! I know how popular David has been with so many of you and how sad it may have been to realise that in Death Calls David was paralysed as a result of being injured during the terrorist attack.

I’m working on another three books in the series with yet more of the characters you’ve come to know – Blake and Stacia for starters, as well as Diana and Ryder again because their story is the foundation of the entire series. Yes, it’s true! In a future book, Diana and Ryder will face yet another challenge to their love, one which will propel the series into totally new ground. I hope you’ll be back for more! Thanks for all your support and belief in THE CALLING.

Sincerely,

Caridad

CARIDAD PIÑEIRO

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Leslie Wainger, who believed in my vampires

from the very start and gave me this amazing

opportunity to share them with you.

1491, Galicia, Spain

The thought of slowly strangling the life from his wife made the flogging almost bearable for Diego Rivera.

As each lash stripped another bit of skin from his back, he imagined his hands encircling her throat. Imagined himself watching her eyes bulge as he exerted pressure and heard the crack of cartilage beneath his fingers.

The pleasure of his near-delirium daydream evaporated as one particularly sadistic blow penetrated his defenses and his body jerked spasmodically.

“ Madre de Dios ,” he gasped as fire erupted between his shoulder blades. Beside the heat of the whip as it tore into his flesh, Diego sensed a warmth that could only be blood trickling down his back.

“Confess your sins, convert. It will go easier if you tell us the truth,” the Inquisitor urged from his spot a few feet away. Beside him sat a physician whose job it was to make sure the heretic wasn’t too far gone to confess.

This business of saving lives wasn’t supposed to kill anyone, Diego thought cynically, then laughed out loud.

The sound bounced off the stone walls of the room, shocking his torturers, who looked at him as if he was crazy. Maybe he was, Diego mused, as he heard the eerie echo of his laughter, sounding too much like that of a madman.

As the physician rose from the chair and walked toward him, Diego realized they would stop the punishment now and wait for him to be more lucid. That was the way it had been for weeks now. Maim, wait, repeat.

It was the way it would be today.

The physician jerked his head toward Diego, and two guards quickly undid the shackles that had been cutting into his wrists. Released from his bondage, he slumped and would have fallen to the ground if not for the guards, who dragged him from the chamber toward the small cell that had held him prisoner for nearly a month now.

They tossed him inside unceremoniously. He landed roughly on the floor, his head smacking against the cobblestones, since his arms were too feeble to break his fall.

What was one more bruise? he thought as the chilly humidity of the cell quickly registered his burning flesh. He shivered violently, which brought renewed pain to his mangled back and sore arms. He tried to quell the chatter of his teeth and swore he would get vengeance on those who had betrayed him.

He didn’t know how long a time passed before the slight scuffle of footsteps on the stone floor drew his attention.

“Esperanza?” He glanced upward and smiled as the familiar face of the plain servant girl from his home crept into his vision. Esperanza had been sneaking into the prison to care for him.

“Don Diego, I’m so sorry,” she said as she dabbed at his back with a moist cloth.

At his groan, she explained, “This will keep it from getting infected.”

Diego knew she meant well, but keeping him alive would only benefit the Inquisitor. He gently laid a hand on her thigh as she knelt beside him. “You are a good girl, Esperanza.”

Her gasp confused him. In her vibrant brown eyes, however, he finally saw why she risked her life to help him—she was in love with him. In a way, he cared for her, as well.

Diego had barely noticed her the entire time that she labored in his home. He had been too busy whoring with many more beautiful women, including his own bitch of a wife. His infidelities had been the reason that his wife had lied about him and turned him over to the Inquisitor. Backing her claims that he was a relapsed convert was a lower nobleman who coveted Diego’s properties and wife.