by Ines Johnson
Marechal squints over her glasses. It’s her gaze that latches onto mine. She stares directly into my eyes, as if she is the one that’s probing me.
Her will is strong. But I have her in my grasp. I search her mind and come up with formulas and mixtures and a deep abiding love for Carignan.
Marechal blinks a few times after I release her. She glares at me as she pulls open the side of her white lab coat. Within her coat are a pair of cutting shears.
“If you hurt my sister, you should know that I carry sharp things in my back pocket.”
Beside me, Gaius chuckles. I can tell his interest is piqued. I nod at Marechal, liking her even more myself.
“I mean your sister no harm,” I say. “Her care and protection are my highest priority.”
After a moment, Marechal nods. She shuts her lab coat. “I believe you.”
“And I believe you.”
Chapter 20
Cari
“Where’d you find him?” asks Mare.
“When I was out skydiving.”
Her intake of breath is sharp. So is the glare she turns on me.
What? It was an honest answer. And I was never one to lie to authority figures like teachers, my dad, or my older siblings. Though it was easy getting away with things when Mare was in charge of me. She was usually up to her arms in soil with her head in the vines. I’m not used to her giving me her full attention as she’s doing now.
“Another adventure junkie?” asks Mare. “What’s he into? Racing? Volcano jumping?”
My head tilts to the side as I regard my sister. Of course I told her about all of my adventures. But she was analyzing grape hybrids as I did so. So, I’m shocked to the core when she can rattle off some of the crazy stunts I’ve pulled.
“No,” I say. “Hadrian’s not into any of that.”
There’s an unsaid question mark at the end of my statement. Because I’m not exactly sure if Hadrian is into adrenaline sports or not. He had given me the idea for plank walking. But had he done it? Is that how he knew?
It hits me then. I really don’t know much about Hadrian, my lover, my boyfriend. The man I’m ready to give my virginity to without a second thought. The man I let do wicked things to me that I had never even known were options in the bedroom.
What I do know is how he makes me feel; safe and secure. It just goes to show that sometimes it pays to take a risk.
However, I’m not feeling the itch to jump out of a plane tonight. Or to walk between high-rises in the morning. Nope. There is a new itch. This itch is lower in my body and more centralized. I want Hadrian to take me back to his bed and –
“It’s that serious?” Mare’s eyebrows are raised so high they form golden arches near her hairline.
She’s staring at me. I have her full attention. Probably for the first time in years.
She gasps, but in an exaggerated way that ends in a grin. “He’s plucked your berry.”
“Mare!”
In the distance, I see Hadrian’s head lift. His gaze finds mine. It’s like he’s in tune with my every move. I feel his bright green eyes roam over me in the darkness. I am heated just by his look.
I have two pairs of eyes on me, his and Mare’s. Luckily, Hadrian is too far away to hear this embarrassing conversation.
“We’re sisters,” says Mare. “We can talk about these things. Especially since you grew up without Maman. I should’ve sat you down earlier and had this talk.”
“We are not having this talk.” I can feel the flush creeping across my cheeks and I turn away from my sister.
Like any parental figure who wants to both embarrass their charge and at the same time educate them, Mare goes on as though she didn’t hear me, or is just ignoring me. “You had that health class in school. I remember I signed the permission slip for it.”
Mare was over eighteen when I was in high school, so our father allowed her to behave like a guardian when it came to school and after school activities. It was great on some levels. I got to go on coed camping trips and even a study abroad where the students far outnumbered the chaperones. But there were drawbacks to having your twenty-year-old, data-minded sister as your guardian.
“You had cable hooked up in your room with all the channels,” Mare is saying. “And the internet. I assumed you’d figure it out.”
I put my head in my hands. For someone who makes fine wine, Mare has no filter. She will talk about skinning grapes in the same conversation as the mating rituals of fruit flies and then over to the nitrogen content in manure. No, she was not adopted. I asked.
I chance a peek between my fingers. Hadrian’s gaze is still locked on me. And he’s grinning like he knows what we are talking about. I assume it’s because he can see my red cheeks from the distance…and under the moonlight?
“But I suppose there’s a lot of misinformation on the internet,” Mare continues. “Especially on the porn sites.”
I can hear Hadrian’s chuckle from where I sit. Not only is he great at catching me when I fall, but he can also hear over long distances when I’m being embarrassed, too? My head goes back into my hands. Mare is oblivious, so she keeps up the sex education.
“Orgasms are not normal for women. Multiple orgasms are a fantasy written in bad porn scripts. In fact, seventy-five percent of all women never reach an orgasm during intercourse. Many never reach one in their lifetime.”
Huh? That’s not my first experience or my second with Hadrian. I must be one of the rare anomalies then. I’d had multiple orgasms without intercourse.
Now both Hadrian and Gaius are looking this way. Though Gaius is focused on Mare. His dark brows are lifted as he regards my sister, as though antlers are growing out of her head.
“I just don’t want you to be disappointed when the time comes,” Mare is saying. “Hadrian seems to care about you.”
The pink washes from my cheeks as I turn back to her and speak my truth. “I trust him with my life.” I want to make her understand how important this man is to me, what his simple touch has done for me. “He makes me feel alive again.”
Mare’s hand comes to my low back. It’s a comforting weight. Her touch travels up my back and settles in my heart, like a warm blanket.
“I know this last year has been hard on you with…everything,” she says. “Cari, I want you to know that, if you decide you don’t want anything to do with this place anymore, if it’s too painful to be here and you want to sell, I’ll understand.”
Looking at my sister now, a memory from when I was young rises to the forefront of my mind. I remember her holding my hand when I learned to ride a bike. I remember her arms around me, hugging me when our mom died. I remember her lips pressed to my forehead, telling me everything was going to be all right, that she was there for me.
“It’s not your fault that he’s gone, Cari.”
“I know.”
Mare brushes a tear from the corner of my eye. “He would’ve wanted you to live, to walk away from that accident. He would’ve done anything for you to survive.”
“I know. He said so before he died.”
I have never told anyone that before. Not either of my siblings. Not the therapist who tried to help me deal.
“He told me to get out of the car and live,” I confess. “I’ve been walking around like the living dead for months. I’ve been so numb. The adventures, the adrenaline, it was the only way I felt alive.”
Mare runs her hand over my brow and down my back. Her touch sparked old memories of summer picnics out in the vineyard, cold winter nights watching Christmas movies under a wool blanket.
“And now?” she asks.
I look up at the night sky. I haven’t seen the sun for two days but it feels like a new dawn.
My gaze lands on Hadrian as he walks to me. My heart races, my blood pulses, my breath quickens. All with my feet planted on the ground and my body sitting still.
“He brought me back to life.”
Chapter 21
Hadrian
; I scoop Cari into my arms. Lifting her up and out of the lawn chair. The glass of wine she holds spills. It is one of her sister’s special hybrids, a good bottle. But I do not care.
I brought her back to life, she said. She has no idea what those words do to me. What they mean to me.
For the first time in my second life, I feel no pain. I feel no shame. Death does not taunt me. Cari’s arms around me, her smiling face, they outshine my memory of standing in sunlight. It’s as though I can feel the sun’s rays and they warm me instead of burning me.
Is this what Cari feels? Is this what it is to feel alive? I had forgotten. But holding her in my arms, the memories are coming back.
I put my nose in her hair, burrowing into the side of her neck. Her vein pulses as though it knows its new master. The jugular punches me in the mouth, taunting me to take a sip of her sweet nectar.
Oh Fates, how I want this woman. How I need her. In my mouth. On my cock. In my very veins.
But I can wait. We have time. We have her whole life.
I trace my lips from her throat to the underside of her chin before I take her lips. She is sweet heat, salty sass, and spicy strength in one serving. And she is all mine. Wrapping my hand around her neck, I tilt her back to take more.
From the side of my shoulder, I hear a rumble. The sound does not detract me from my mission of consuming Carignan. The disruption sounds again, deeper this time, insistent.
It’s Gaius clearing his throat.
I tear my mouth away from Carignan and flash my fangs. I will not share her. Best friend or not. Blood brother or not, I will rip his petite head from his body before I let him put his dainty hands on her.
Instead of challenging me for Carignan, Gaius raises his brow. He tilts his head and nudges it to the side a couple of times. It’s like he’s trying to tell me something in an unspoken language.
From my peripheral vision, I see what he’s trying to say. I’d forgotten we have an audience. Marechal, the sister. Luckily, she is sitting on the other side of me so she doesn’t see my fangs.
I retract my teeth, take a deep breath, and set Cari down. But I do not let her go. I will never let her go.
“We can have dinner another night, Cari,” says Marechal. “I see you’re a bit… preoccupied at the moment.”
Carignan is dazed. Her gaze is hazy and unfocused. Pride wells up inside of me. I did that to her.
The simplest things about her bring me the greatest amount of pleasure. Her honesty. Her vulnerability. Her clear and tangible desire for me, and only me.
“If you’re not too busy,” Gaius turns to Marechal, “I’d love to preoccupy you.”
“I beg your pardon?” Marechal peers at Gaius over her glass and her glasses.
I can’t tell if she caught Gaius’ sexual intent or not. He’s been sneaking covetous glances at her since we arrived. When she began her ridiculous talk of the myth of the female orgasm, I knew that all that Gaius heard was a gauntlet being thrown down.
He’ll have her in his bed before the sun comes up, of that, I have no delusion. Most women drop their panties at the quirk of Gaius’s brow. But looking again at Marechal and her studious gaze, I can see sexual satisfaction is not the direction her mind headed towards.
“Oh, you mean you’d like to talk about your little problem with your tool.”
Gaius’ smirk drops. “My what?”
“The tools you’ll need to fight root rot. I’m sure that like me, you can easily get wrapped up in vines.”
Gaius makes a choked sound. Carignan’s cheeks heat. Even my little innocent gets the double entendre. Her sister remains oblivious.
“I didn’t realize we were having guests for dinner?”
The new arrival looks familiar to me. But I can’t place him. Not until he takes a stiff step towards me, his lips curling in distaste, his Chianti-brown eyes flashing in disapproval. Then I remember where I know him from.
“Hey, Arneis.” Cari goes over to the man and embraces him. “I want you to meet my boyfriend. Hadrian, this is my brother.”
The recognition is now a two-way street. We bumped into each other at Club Toxic. Frangelico had taunted the man when I was on my way out of Club Toxic. Though there’s knowledge in his gaze, he doesn’t make our connection plain.
“Boyfriend?” says Arneis. His lips curl.
I’ve never had to do the parent or sibling thing. Domitia was half a millennia old when she turned me, and many of her sireds were long gone, by her own hand. I knew growling and baring my teeth was not the way to go in this meet and greet. I have no idea what to do otherwise.
“Hadrian and Gaius own the vineyard a few miles away,” says Marechal.
Arneis does not look impressed. “You’re in the wine business? Upstarts?”
“My family has had vineyards for hundreds of years,” I say, knowing that the Durand vineyard is less than one hundred years old.
Arneis’ brow quirks, but only slightly. “If you’re looking to buy this place, and trying to get a leg up by dating my sister, you can cut ties. I already have a buyer lined up.”
“Arneis,” says Cari. “What a horrible thing to say. Papa would be ashamed.”
Cari’s older brother grits his teeth. His glare remains on me and not his little sister. I don’t catch a spark of shame in his dark brown eyes. He doesn’t look directly at me.
Does he know of the paranormal world? Is he clued into vampires and what we can do? It’s against the rules. But Frangelico is king here, so he can break the rules if he wants.
“You should know I’ve decided I don’t want to sell,” says Cari. “This place is a part of me. It’s a part of Papa. I don’t want to let it go.”
Arneis turns from me now. He whips around to face Carignan. “Don’t be rash, Carignan.”
I am beside her, ready to knock this pompous ass into the middle of the vineyard if he dares bring any aggression on her. But by the looks of it, I will not have to.
Carignan puts her hands on her hips and faces off against her brother who has a couple of inches on her. “Don’t be rude, Arneis. I know my own mind. I’m not a child.”
“You’ve been behaving like one all year,” he says. And then his features soften. He brings his hands to her shoulders. “You’re not well enough to make this decision. I think you need help.”
“Help?” Marechal steps up to the other side of Carignan. She puts her hand on Carignan’s hip and tugs her younger sister towards her. “What are you talking about, Arneis?”
“She needs psychiatric help, Marechal. We can’t deny it anymore. The skydiving, the racing, and now this.” His hand wave in my direction. “She’s making reckless choices. We should commit her.”
“Touch her and I don’t care what blood runs through your fingers, I will break each one just above the knuckle.”
Arneis takes a step back at my threat. Marechal looks between the two of us. She’s clearly upset with her brother, but my words give her pause. Gaius is at my back. I’m not sure if he’s there to aide or stop me. All I care about is Carignan. She places herself between me and her brother.
But she faces me.
Her hands rest on my chest. If she tells me to back down, I will. For now.
“I want what’s best for her,” Arneis says after a tense silence.
“You’re looking at him,” I say.
Once again, Arneis’ lips curl. Once again, he does not look impressed. “We’ll see about that. This isn’t over.”
Arneis looks to Carignan, then to Marechal. Before he goes, he gazes out at the vineyard, as though it is another family member that turned on him.
“I need a drink,” says Marechal after her brother storms off.
“Pour me one, too,” says Gaius.
I pull Carignan into my arms. I run my hands up and down her back, trying to infuse warmth into her after that scene.
“He’s not usually like that,” says Cari.
I don’t care. If Arneis thinks he can take her away f
rom me by medical hold or a snip of a harness, he is mistaken. I will happily rip him limb from limb. I’d make it look like an accident, of course.
Chapter 22
Cari
“Where are we going?” I ask from the passenger seat.
Hadrian shifts through the gears of the sports car like he’s slicing through a piece of cake. He takes the turns with one hand while the other moves from the gear stick to my knee and back again. I want him to stick to a steady speed, or even slow down, whatever it will take for him to keep his hands on me.
Gaius stayed behind to talk vine health with Marechal. I don’t think they’ll end up in bed. Though I got a decent helping of Mare’s full attention tonight, I’m certain that was the top portion of her daily quota of consideration away from her work.
Arneis stormed off after that awful display. I have no idea what got into him. Or the measuring contest that got underway between him and Hadrian.
Well, maybe I do. A mental institution? Really? My brother already sent me to a therapist and I followed her prescription.
Okay, not to the letter. But her advice worked. I am back in a car right now.
Hadrian speeds through the streets. My heart races as he takes a hairpin turn with only one hand on the steering wheel. I want to ask him to slow down. But my voice is in my throat. I click on the seat belt and hold onto the edge of my seat.
“We’re just going to make a quick stop in Tucson,” he says, answering the question I forgot I’d even asked. “Then I’ll take you home.”
He removes his hand from my knee. Instead of reaching for the gear shift, he reaches up and brushes his knuckles down my cheek. My fingers unclench from the seat. My body warms with only the slightest touch from him.
“I’m sorry about Arneis.”
“Don’t mention it again,” Hadrian says.
But I have to. “It was just the shock of it all. My decision to keep the business. And you’re my first boyfriend.”
“Your first?” He takes his eyes off the road to glance at me.
