The Bleeding Dusk by Colleen Gleason

wall. Her candle flame, still burning on the ground, flickered wildly as she looked over at him, recognizing they were at an impasse.
    â€œStrong, brave, stubborn…and beautiful. Once again, I can understand my grandson’s attraction for you.” His lips, thinner than Sebastian’s, but of the same shape, curved in a familiar smile. The movement couldn’t help but remind her of the many times she’d kissed lips rather like them.
    Beauregard’s eyes gleamed behind his mask, sweeping a pink gaze over her, trying again to capture her. “’Tis a shame he saw you first, Venator. But if he does not treat his ladylove with care and attention, perhaps you will tire of waiting for him and cast your affections elsewhere. Toward power. And immortality.”
    â€œI’m as likely to be his ladylove as he is to be a Venator himself,” Victoria replied with a derisive snort, stepping back, but ready to propel herself forward. “I trust him no farther than I do you; perhaps even less. At least I know where you stand.”
    â€œI see.” The way he looked at her, as though he were contemplating some great question, was so different from his earlier gaze when he’d tried to enthrall her that Victoria almost looked him straight in the eye. But she remembered how easily she’d fallen moments before and resisted. “Ah, well, at the least, as you said, you know where I stand. Now, do not strike at me again,” he added when she gathered herself up to do just that. “As that you’ve proven yourself just as enticing and capable as I’d hoped, let us get to business.”
    Wary, but no longer breathing hard, Victoria didn’t relax her stance. “Business? Was that your vampire I staked earlier? A lure sent to pull me from the crowd? As you did last night?”
    She could almost see his eyebrows rising behind the hooded mask of the domino. “I’m afraid you must be mistaken. I was otherwise engaged last evening. It was a tedious thing, but one must feed at least occasionally. Although I will admit to using that young man you slayed as one of several…what did you call them? Lures? To help me locate you in the crowd. So that I could answer your call, so to speak.”
    â€œApparently he was expendable.”
    Beauregard shrugged. “The young ones are so bloody sure of themselves they think they are invincible once they have been turned. They do not realize a Venator can just as easily end their immortality as they believe they can take from other mortals. It was a lesson for some of his other companions. It’s fortunate for me that most of those young, weak ones have allied themselves with Regalado and his Tutela members.”
    â€œAnd so the battle rages on between the two vampire factions.” Victoria swept up the candle, then straightened from her offensive stance.
    â€œBattle? I’d hardly call it that. Regalado and his followers are no match for me, even with their new ally. Indeed, I have my own plan for dealing with them.”
    Victoria pretended to yawn. “Vampire politics: not something I’m terribly interested in—I’d just as soon stake all of you, regardless of who allies with whom. Instead, let’s talk about why you’ve enticed me into this dark alley. I can only assume the purpose is to exact some kind of payment for telling me what I want to know.”
    â€œAh, good. You’ve alleviated the awkwardness of the topic by mentioning it yourself.” Beauregard laughed, sounding uncomfortably like Sebastian. Then his charm vanished, and his eyes burned pink again. “Why do you wish to see him? I did not expect a woman of your stature and confidence to be chasing after the noncommittal rake that is my grandson.”
    She bowed her head, taking care not to look directly into those dangerous irises. “I think the rake is more like an apple that has fallen not so far from the tree.