by L. E. Wilson
“Um. Well, if we exchanged blood, I would be able to find you anywhere. I would be able to protect you should anything ever happen. Also, my blood would keep you young and healthy, and you’d grow stronger than a normal human. You’d never get sick. You’d heal faster. You would be as immortal as I am as long as you were with me.”
“As long as no one cut off your head or ripped out a vital organ.” Aiden chimed in.
“What would happen if I stopped drinking it?”
“You would begin to age at that time, picking up right where you left off.”
While Emma mulled that over, Nik tried to get the conversation back on topic, “Anyway, all this stuff isn’t important for you to know right now.”
“Mmmm, I don’t know.” Aiden tilted his head and tapped a finger against his chin in mock consideration. “I think it is very important for Emma to know all of this ‘stuff’, and the sooner the better the way things are going.”
He ducked to the side to avoid the water bottle Nik chucked at him. It hit the floor and rolled toward the front of the plane. He gave Nik a hurt look. “You know, I’m beginning to feel a bit unappreciated here. I think I may just go hang out with pilot Bill for a bit.”
Shaking his head in disbelief at Aiden’s back, Nik waited until the cockpit door clicked shut before continuing. “So, long story short. Leeha decided to take it upon herself to make her father’s wishes come true. Luuk went to meet her one night, and we haven’t seen him since.
Emma looked down at her folded hands, then back up at Nik. “But, how do you know for sure Leeha has him? Could something else have happened?”
“Maybe. Except she called and told us she has him.”
Chapter 20
“Did I leave out that part?” Nik asked as Emma’s mouth fell open. He chewed the inside of his cheek. He could’ve sworn he’d told her.
“She told you this? When? Did she say anything about my sister?”
“No. She just told us she has Luukas.”
“She didn’t mention anything at all about Keira?” A note of desperation flavored her voice.
He shook his head.
“Then tell me again why you think Keira is even with her,” she said indignantly.
Sitting forward to rest his elbows on his knees, he admitted, “Actually, as I told you before, we don’t know for sure…”
Emma sat up straight in her seat and folded her arms over her chest
“Don’t go all ballistic on me. A few months after she claimed to have Luuk, one of the guys heard about your sister going missing. We knew of your family heritage already, and we put two and two together.”
“That still doesn’t explain to me why you think she’s there,” she insisted.
“Like I told you, we think she’s there because the only way Leeha would be able to hold Luuk anywhere he didn’t want to be, is by having some way of keeping him weakened enough he couldn’t escape. There are only two ways of doing that. She can starve him, obviously, but that takes time. Older vampires only need to feed a few times a month, so how would she hold him there long enough to get him so malnourished his power would be weakened to the point where he couldn’t escape?”
“I know, I know.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “A witch.”
“Exactly. A witch. Having a powerful witch on her side would give Leeha the upper hand. There are spells that can weaken even a Master Vampire like my brother. And your sister, is the only witch we know of who can’t be accounted for during the past seven years.
“I just can’t believe my sister would have kept a secret like that from me,” Emma muttered, “Or that she would ever do something like this. She’d never purposely hurt anyone. She just wouldn’t.”
The hurt he could hear in her voice tugged at his insides. “I’m sure she had a very good reason for doing it.”
“Yeah, I guess.” After a breath, she asked, “How did you know about my family? Is there some kind of supernatural online community I don’t know about or something?”
He barked out a laugh. “Yeah! Allsupes.com - Meet other supernatural beings in your area! Vamps! Find your favorite blood type in our human donor database! Wolves! Looking for that perfect bitch? Just answer our questionnaire…”
Emma squinted at him in annoyance as he threw his head back and laughed. “I’m so glad you can amuse yourself at my expense. Wait, did you say ‘wolves’?”
He nodded as he wiped at his eyes and tried to get it together. “Yeah, wolves. Like werewolves, you know?”
“There are werewolves?” Emma’s face was so shocked, Nik started laughing all over again.
“Nikulas! Would you please stop!” Emma had to shout to be heard over all the noise.
“Sorry. I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath and wiped his eyes again, fighting to control himself. “Okay. Sorry. Um…no, there isn’t a website. At least not that I’m aware of. And yes, there are werewolves. You may meet some of them in Seattle. They like the colder climates. They run kind of hot. I’m surprised you’ve never run into any living out in the country where you do.”
“I don’t get out very much,” she said.
Sitting back in her seat, she looked bewildered as she tried to absorb the fact that everything she’d thought she’d known about the world was false.
“Vampires, and witches, and wolves. Are faeries real too? Magical elves? Dragons?” She waved away his answer with a muttered, “I really don’t want to know.” After a moment, she turned her head to look at him. “So, my family? How did you know about us?”
“I’ve never met your mom or sister, but vampires and witches have worked together throughout the years for the ‘greater good’, so to speak. And the Moss family has always played a prominent role in that association with us, up until recently.” He smiled at her. “You witches agree to help us, and we agree not to feed on you. Unless it’s by mutual consent, of course.”
Ignoring that last comment, she asked, “Helped you how?”
“Witches from the family in our area have helped us control the Legion. And before that, there were different reasons. Vampires are notoriously territorial, so fights spring up all the time between each other or between us and another species. As witches are the only ones who can really hurt us, it was in our best interest to form an alliance with them right from the start.”
“So what you’re admitting to me, is that I’m the only one on this plane who could hurt you?”
He nodded. “Depending on your power, yes.”
“Is that smart of you to tell me?”
“Are you going to hurt me, Em?” he asked her in a low voice.
“Of course not,” she answered softly.
“Good.” He searched her face before dropping his eyes to the pulse in her throat. As he stared, the beats came faster. Harder.
He cleared his throat, breaking the spell. “And as much as I hate to admit it, Aiden is right about one thing. We should work with you on helping you to control your ‘witchy side’ as he likes to call it.”
“I still think that I would know if I was a witch,” she insisted.
“At the risk of sounding like your worst Freudian nightmare, why don’t you tell me about your childhood? Whatever you remember. What about, like, premonitions? Or, did anything ever happen if you were feeling really emotional? Like really angry or something?”
She looked down at her hands, twisted in her lap. “Yeah, I’ve had some weird things happen when I’m upset. Keira, too. We never really talked about it. It was just something that happened. I don’t think we even realized it wasn’t normal until we started school.”
“Your parents never mentioned anything to explain why this stuff happened?”
“No. Not a word. They just acted like it was no big deal for things to fly across the room when I was mad I couldn’t have dessert, or whatever.” She gave him a pained smile. “As we got older, the incidents tapered off, unless I get really upset. Working out seems to help. ”
“Yet, amazing
ly, nothing has flown through the air to smash over my head during any of our previous conversations. Other than some jumpy salt and pepper shakers at the bar, of course. Why do you think that is?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ve certainly deserved it a few times. And it’s not like I haven’t thought about it.”
Hiding his smile at that last comment, he asked, “Did you never wonder why these things were happening?”
She shook her head. “I’ve always just felt like I didn’t belong. I never had any friends, except my sister. She had the same problems in school as I did, but it never seemed to bother her as much. I’ve always just thought she was stronger than I am. I guess I never really questioned it.”
“I’m not uncomfortable around you.” Reaching across the narrow aisle, he took her small hand in his.
She jumped at his touch. Ever since their encounter earlier, he’d made it a point not to be anywhere within three feet of her, not wanting to tempt himself more. But after hearing the loneliness in her voice, he felt the need to prove to her he meant what he’d said.
After a pause, she threaded her fingers through his. “What you were saying earlier? About when humans and vampires mate and what happens when they exchange blood? Does that work if it’s only one way?”
He knew this question was coming, he’d seen it click in her head earlier. Looking down at their joined hands, he gently played with her fingers, hoping she wouldn’t remember the ass he’d made of himself when he’d woken up. “I can sense you when you’re nearby, because I’ve had your blood, if that’s what you’re asking.”
He narrowed his eyes at her as she bit back a smile. Guess it was too much to ask that she didn’t catch on to that. She didn’t tease him about it, though.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘sense’? Just that I’m there?”
“Where you are, and your general sense of well-being. I can feel it if you’re angry or upset. Or sad, like you are now. But I’ve always been able to do that. It’s just stronger now. Does that bother you?” He watched her reaction closely. “Em?” He started pulling his hand away.
But she closed her fingers tighter around his to keep him there, and told him firmly, “No. It doesn’t bother me.”
Letting out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, he carefully squeezed her hand in response before he released her. “Good.” Then he attempted to steer the conversation back on to safer ground. “When we land, if you’re not too tired—”
“What is this Nik?” she blurted. “With us? I mean, are you just playing with me for your own amusement? Is that it? The naive human? Or witch? Or whatever I am?” Her voice trembled. “Because if that’s what you’re doing, please just…stop.”
“Emma—”
“Are you just acting like you’re interested in me to keep me here so I’ll help you? Because you don’t have to do that, either. I would help you anyway if there was any chance at all of me finding my sister.”
“It’s not that simple,” he argued.
“Sure it is, Nikulas. If it’s just your…predator instincts, or the thrill of the chase, or whatever, causing you to run all hot and cold with me, knock it off. I have enough on my plate right now without having to deal with any more confusing emotions caused by you.”
Nik launched himself out of his seat to pace up and down the aisle, tugging at his hair with both hands in frustration. Dammit Em, just let it go. “That’s not it. I haven’t…I wouldn’t do that.”
“Then what, exactly, is it?” she asked sarcastically.
He paced faster, not even bothering to put forth the ‘human’ façade, and clenched his teeth together so hard his jaw hurt. “Shouldn’t you be afraid of me, Emma? I’m a vampire, for Christ’s sake! You’ve been attacked before! Why the fuck are you not afraid of me?”
“Just answer the damn question, Nik!” she snapped.
He came to an abrupt halt directly in front of her, and just shook his head. The misery in her eyes ripped him apart. But, how could he explain something to her he barely understood himself?
Apparently, she’d gotten her answer. “Okay, then. So, we’ll work together to try to find our family. Other than that, please leave me alone.” Taking off her seatbelt, she lifted her chin and rose out of her seat. She wouldn’t look at him as she headed to the restroom at the front of the plane.
His anguished voice tore from his chest against his will, stopping her dead in her tracks. “I can’t.”
She froze outside the bathroom door. “What did you say?”
His eyes burned as he admitted, “I can’t leave you alone. I want to, I do. I’m trying, but I fear I can’t.”
“Why not?” she asked softly.
“Because you’re MINE,” he grated through his teeth.
Her forehead scrunched up in confusion. “What?”
Planting his hands low on his lean hips, his head fell forward in defeat. Fuck it. He may as well tell her. She’d find out eventually anyway, one way or the other. “You’re mine. I can’t leave you alone, but I can’t have you either. And it’s tearing me up inside.”
Agony flowed from him like a living, breathing thing, filling the cabin. It was so palpable, he heard Emma lose her breath when it first hit her.
Cautiously, she walked toward him until she was close enough to touch. “Nikulas, what are you talking about?”
He inhaled a ragged breath and lifted his head. His tortured eyes locked onto her face. “You’re mine, Emma. My mate. Given to me by fate, fucking bitch that she is. I knew the moment I tasted your blood.” He gave a derisive laugh. “I always passed it off as just a fable, you know? A story passed down through the years from the elders. But it’s not. It’s real. It’s taken me over 600 years, but I’ve finally found you. And I can’t fucking have you.”
Emma was obviously struggling to understand. “Why can’t you have me?”
He didn’t answer at first, just ran his eyes desperately, hungrily, over her face, stopping at the pulse beating in her throat.
“Because I’ll kill you.”
Chapter 21
Christian walked through downtown Seattle. Man, he loved this city. He loved the gloomy weather. Loved the hustle and bustle of downtown and Pike Market. Loved the different neighborhoods, each so distinctive in their own way. Loved the ferries, the islands, the mountains. He even loved the homeless population. No one really noticed when they came up missing.
Disposable humans. Always a good feature of the place Dante called home. And being that he was an important part of their group, it kept them all out of trouble, and allowed them to stay here.
Christian didn’t understand the way the old ones behaved sometimes. The way they didn’t care. Maybe it was because they’d been inhuman for so long, they’d forgotten what it was like to be human. Maybe, in a few hundred years, he’d become just like them. Not caring if his meal lived or died. Not caring if somebody’s mom or dad or brother or sister didn’t come home. Not caring if families got ripped apart and destroyed.
But today was not that day. Today, he would carry on as usual. Fucking, feeding, and sending them home. Safe and sound.
Hitting 6th Ave, he headed toward Belltown, threading his way through the crowd of people outside Nordstrom’s. There was a cute little dancer he’d been eyeing up at a strip club there. He glanced down at his watch. He should arrive just in time to talk her into taking the night off, and spending it with him. Or at least an hour or two of it.
Then he’d be off to find another female. And another. And another. Until the rising sun chased him back to the sanctuary of his apartment, right next door to Shea’s.
He never brought a female home with him, preferring to keep things as anonymous as possible, erasing their memories when necessary. And it was always necessary. If he brought them home, he’d see the faces of the women he used everywhere he looked. He could barely live with himself as it was. He needed a place that held no memories of what a complete and total asshole he was.
Shaking it off, he cut through an alley behind the theatre. He could be disgusted with himself later. Right now he wanted—no, needed—to get to the strip club, and the bleached blonde who would be arriving there on the bus in about five minutes.
Christian came to the end of the alley. Pulling his cell phone out of his front pocket, he looked down to check the time, but a noise behind him had him glancing over his shoulder. Suddenly, his cell phone fell from his hand and smashed apart on the pavement.
He never made it to the strip club.
Ushering Emma off of the plane, Aiden steadfastly refused to answer any of her questions, insisting she needed to discuss this stuff with Nik. There was just one problem with that. Nik wasn’t speaking to her.
Immediately after his revelation on the plane, the pilot had come over the speakers to let them know they were about to land in Seattle, and the shot of reality seemed to wash over Nik like a deluge of ice water. He’d ordered her to sit down and put on her seatbelt, assisting her when she’d just stood there, staring at him dumbfounded. Then he’d taken his own seat and refused to talk to her or even look her way while they touched down.
As soon as the plane had stopped, he’d made a run for it. He had his bag and was at the hatch and off the plane before she’d even gotten a chance to unbuckle herself.
With no explanation for, or reaction to, his friend’s cowardly behavior, Aiden had come and helped her with her stuff again, escorting her off the plane and into the private car waiting to take them to their home.
She’d never been to Seattle, or any big city for that matter, so Emma let Aiden distract her as he played tour guide from where they sat in the backseat. It was a beautiful city, even in the early morning hours and with the drizzling rain, and she was constantly craning her neck around to look out all of the windows.
Nik sat up front with the driver, not offering any input, not even when Aiden obviously made up outlandish tales about some of the history. As a matter of fact, he didn’t seem to be listening to them at all.
