by C. L. Quinn
There were so many things to resolve right now, between forging a strong bond between her newfound daughter and great-granddaughter, finding her son, finding a vampire who should never have been one, and making sure that the family was safe. Now, Sarah’s odd request that couldn’t be ignored.
“All in good time,” she said to the wall as she stepped off the final stair and got hit by two charging bullets followed close behind by three golden retrievers. Bed time could get chaotic around here, but it was one of her favorite parts of the day.
OUTSIDE OF PARIS
Groaning, Xavier pushed the two women still lying on top of him aside. His bed was enormous, so there was plenty of room to safely dislodge them. Swatting the buttocks of one of the women, he gave them a smile.
“Lasses, ye must go. It appears that I have to go to America.”
One of the women pulled him back to her and gave him a hearty kiss. Struggling, Xavier slipped away from her. “Lass, I mean it. Ye both need to skedaddle. I’ve a woman to save. I think.”
Striding naked across the soft carpet, he didn’t notice the two women watch him until he disappeared into the obscenely large bathroom adjacent to the room.
One looked at the other, rolled her eyes, then commented to her companion in their native French.
“God, I can’t decide if he looks better from the front or back. That yummy ass!”
“I’m with you Josephine. Well, it appears he’s finished with us for now. Let’s get out of here.”
As they dressed, Josephine sighed. “I hope he is not gone too long.”
“I will starve for him if he is.”
“Of course you won’t. Still, he makes my week when he calls. I wish he called more often.”
“He used to. I think something is on his mind. He seems…different…lately.”
Now clothed, the women left arm in arm. There were tasks waiting in the household other than this most favored one.
Scrubbed, Xavier walked back into his bedroom, aggressively towel-drying his hair. The length bothered him, it was too long, mostly because he just hadn’t cared enough to have someone cut it. He hated that, recently, things were constantly changing and shifting and generally being a pain in his arse. What was wrong with the way things were?
He’d supported Sarah leaving, but it was just one more thing that made his life less enjoyable. God knows he didn’t understand why she wanted to go back to the miserable state of being only human, but he’d supported her choice to do so.
Unexpectedly, he’d found that he missed her. She’d been with him for about a hundred years, and never, in all that time, had he needed to ask her for anything. Intuitively, and perhaps not, she always anticipated his needs and had him taken care of immediately. He liked that. Fuck, he depended on it!
Yes, he’d admit that he missed her gentle smile and those satiny amber eyes that had looked at him in disapproval almost as often as they hadn’t. He would admit only to himself that he missed her like he might a daughter. A hundred years! You miss someone that’s been there for such a long time.
“Sarah, what have ya gotten yerself into?” he said out loud as he reached for some jeans. “Whatever it is, ya know that I’ve got ya.”
After shaking his head vigorously, the combination of the cold shower and the physical activity had cleared his head, which is precisely what he’d needed to do.
He smiled. The sex helped too. Josephine and Natalia were young, healthy blood-bonds who had sought him out twelve years ago and asked to be considered for blood meals and sex. Both women were gorgeous, motivated sexual partners, and remained his favorites when he was at home. The trio of lovers had become comfortable and casual with each other over the years, the sex inventive and fulfilling.
Forcing his mind off the women, he reached for Sarah. The blood tie was weaker now that she’d ceased taking his blood, so he had trouble making the link. Human blood was too weak to find through a blood draw, but Sarah had taken his blood for decades, so there would still be a trace amount in her body.
Damn’t, it wasn’t working! He thought that maybe a good Scotch…no! No, even he knew that the alcohol dulled his senses and that wasn’t what he needed right now.
He needed to burn off the rest of the fogginess, so he zipped down the stairs to the well supplied fitness room that he kept for his blood-bonds. Forty minutes later, sweating, tired, he raced back up the stairs and into the shower for another cold dousing.
This time, hair dried and yanked back with a tie, loose fitting sweat pants over legs that never needed a gym, he sat on his bed, pushing aside the messed up sheets.
“All right, little Sarah, let’s find out where ya are.” He spoke out loud as if she could hear him. Closing off all outside stimulus, including his eyes, he sent the search out into the cosmos, across the planet, to find his own blood somewhere in America. The search proceeded perfectly, and ten minutes later, he landed on her exact location.
Finally, Xavier opened his eyes. “Gotcha, lass,” he said, and called Tamesine.
After a brief delay, she answered expectantly.
“Did you find her?”
“Aye. Ya need to have more faith. I know precisely where she is. When do we leave?”
“You needn’t go. I’ll have Park and Eillia. You know what we can do together.”
“I do at that. And I’m still goin’. She’s family, and I’ll see to it that she’s safe. Ya can fill me in on the plane. I expect ye’ll be pickin’ me up in Koen’s jet?”
He could hear Tamesine sigh through the phone and smiled.
“Aye,” she said.
IN BOSTON NEAR THE WATERFRONT
Nikolai pushed up onto his elbows. Naji lay on her side while his fingers slipped up and down soft curves, her skin incredibly smooth and sensuous against his fingertips. Their lovemaking had been epic.
God, the woman was skilled! The past hour had been a long session of sex so creative, so nearly acrobatic, even this vampire body was exhausted. Now, all he wanted to do was touch her and watch her.
Nothing in his life had ever felt better than being with this woman who had a gentle soul, but didn’t know it. She came on strong, but while he was inside her, while he was connected to her, he’d felt the fragile heart buried within.
As he caressed her taut, perfectly curved buttocks, he bent over and whispered, “I could have fallen in love with you if we had the time.”
Naji’s eyes opened suddenly. “What did you say?” she asked sleepily.
“I’m sorry, I thought you were asleep.”
She rolled over and smiled. “I should be. We both should be. That was insane.” Lifting a hand, she touched Nikolai’s cheek. “And wonderful. I knew we would be good together, but…wow.”
“I should be satiated, but I do not think that is so.”
“No, you are not. We are so not finished tonight.”
Lowering to her, Nikolai touched her lips with his tongue. He scored the edges, then slipped it inside to kiss her thoroughly.
“Boy, are you a good kisser. If that were an Olympic sport, you would take home the gold for the Russians.”
“Only if they would let me use you for the performance.”
Still smiling in the low light provided by a string of multi-colored lights strung along the top of a wall, Naji paused. “Nikolai, I heard what you said as I woke. What did you mean by if we had the time?”
His hand had been moving down her body, heading back to give her another orgasm when she asked that question. He didn’t have an answer for her. This was likely a one-time moment and he didn’t want to leave her with a disappearing lover and wonder for the rest of her life where he was or what she had done wrong. After tonight…no, before, he knew how precious she was, he would never leave her with that kind of memory chained to her.
“I simply meant that there wasn’t enough time in the world to make love to you.” He hoped that she would believe him, although it didn’t matter. Mies would use his skills to compel memo
ries that would leave her happy before this night ended. He didn’t know what Mies had planned for her, but Mies assured him that they would be memories that would make her smile every time she thought of them.
“If you feel that way, why are we wasting time?”
Nikolai was shocked when Naji jumped from the bed, ending up spread across the bottom. She burrowed between his legs and looked up into his startled eyes. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone other than a vampire move that fast.
“Hold on,” she said, reminding him of her order earlier in her car. Only this was…
Nikolai groaned loudly. “Where did you learn to do that?”
Naji tilted her head. “Are you really asking me that now?”
“God, no. I really don’t want you to stop.”
“Right answer,” she said as she wrapped her tongue around him again. Nikolai kept his mouth shut and just let himself experience her. He didn’t think that he could speak anyway.
Two hours later, Nikolai stood above a sleeping Naji. This time she was truly out. He glanced up at a strange contemporary clock on the wall. It was time to go.
Was it everything you expected it to be?
And more. I am, at once, grateful that I was able to be with her, and furious that I may never be with her again.
You will be, if I have any say in the choice.
You know I appreciate it, but I really doubt that you do. The universe wanted you here and I was just the unfortunate vessel that was available to them. If one of us will go, it will be me. It’s okay, Mies, I know that you are as innocent as I am.
We must go. You’ve said goodbye?
As close as I could. You’ll make sure that she’ll be okay?
I promise. Wake her.
Nodding, Nikolai sat on the bed and pulled Naji into his arms. She moaned, roused, then opened her eyes. A smile lit her face as soon as she saw him.
“Hey, handsome. You’re still here. I usually send my lovers away as soon as I’m finished with them.” She yawned. “I don’t see that I’ll be finished with you for a long, long time. I’m glad you stayed.”
“Being with you is the highlight of my life. Thank you, beautiful lady, for every moment. I really could fall in love with you.”
“Give me a few minutes.”
“I wish we had them.”
She pushed up and pulled away from him, lifting a hand to gently push back the stubborn locks of hair that fell over his brow and nearly covered an eye.
“That sounds like goodbye.”
“It sounds like the beginning of love.”
“So why do I feel like you won’t be around for the end of it?”
Nikolai lowered his head and closed his eyes.
Mies, take over. I can’t do this.
I’ve got her. You’ll see how we leave her. You won’t be disappointed.
I already am. But that’s not something we can fix.
Naji’s face registered deep concern.
“Nikolai?” she questioned, when he didn’t answer her.
“Look into my eyes, Naji,” he said suddenly.
Naji did, searching for what was going on. Something was, he didn’t look right. His face was hard-set, his eyes…what was it that she saw in his eyes? Not the loving, kind man she’d been inside.
“Nikolai, what’s going on? You seem…I don’t know…different. Almost like you aren’t…that doesn’t make sense.”
“It will,” he said. “Naji, you had a marathon night making love with Nikolai. You will always have spectacular, erotic memories of tonight. You will feel love and acceptance whenever you remember it. You will not expect to see Nikolai again, but it will be all right. From now until you do see him again, you’ll feel loved and loving. You will be able to move forward and love again even if you never see him again. Sleep now and wake with a warm feeling of sensuality and passion.”
Mies lowered her gently back to her pillow and kissed her on the forehead. “Solzinan, little Nubian. I will do all that I can to make sure he comes back to you.”
The young man had just left his apartment, climbed into the classic Porsche his father had purchased for him for his birthday, and headed out. His mind was on the job his father insisted he take in the family business…and how to get out of it. He didn’t quite know how to avoid it yet, but he figured if he got the fuck out of the apartment, and claimed that he’d forgotten his cell phone, at least today his father wouldn’t be able to pressure him into it.
Just pulling out of his parking space, a huge man came out of nowhere and stepped in front of the car. Damn’t, what was wrong with people?
He surged from the car, ready to confront the idiot when it struck him how unwise that might be. The guy was easily 6 to 8 inches taller than he was and half again wider. That he was also heavily muscled was apparent too.
As soon as he got close to the big guy, he hesitated. Plastering on a smile, he decided to just wave his hand, inquire as to if the guy was okay, and get back into his car. Trouble, he did not need.
“Hey, fellow, you okay?” he said, surprised when the guy was in front of him without seeing him move.
“Look at me,” the guy demanded.
Once he did, he felt dizzy. The last thing he remembered was the guy telling him to take him to his hotel.
Mies glanced over the bright red Porsche in front of him.
Nice!
You like? Were you happy with Naji’s compulsion?
I was. Thank you. Mies, if this goes my way, I want you to know that, weirdly, I’m going to miss you.
Mies didn’t speak for several moments.
It will be too quiet on the spiritual plane too. Perhaps someday, we may meet again.
Da.
“Take me to my hotel,” Mies told his compelled driver.
A slender young man dressed in a polo shirt and knee length shorts nodded and stepped into the driver’s side seat of the sports car. Mies dropped into the passenger side.
Back to the hotel room before sunrise, and then back to Sarah to see what she had found out after sunset. He felt…sad.
Another sunrise pushed Sarah from her bed. A deep melancholy wouldn’t let up. Tonight, when Mies and Nikolai rose, she would talk with them about their journey to the Appalachians to perform the ritual she had designed using a combination of information from Tamesine, her long experience with first blood vampires, and a fair amount of exposure to their lore and magics.
Sorrow infused her morning routine as she tried to accept the fact that if she was successful in helping the two men who now shared one body, the world would be less one vampire or one kind human being in a few days.
Sipping on hot chocolate, since coffee wasn’t enough of a mood enhancer, she perched on the arm of the sofa again, her feet buried in a cushion, her eyes on the rosy sky, and thought about the situation. So, last night, Nikolai and Naji should have been together. They would have made love, bonded, and said goodbye, all in that one night.
This emotional roller-coaster was playing havoc with her health. She hadn’t eaten much since Nikolai-Mies came into her life. All her life she’d prided herself on her reliability and resourcefulness, but now, when it really counted, she wasn’t sure that she could help anyone at all.
Curling her toes against the soft fabric, she admitted freely…she was afraid.
Afraid that Naji would be heartbroken, afraid that she wouldn’t be able to help either of these men, afraid that she was making the wrong decision not to call the vampires in on this, afraid that after all was said and done, she herself would be lost and alone in this foreign city.
Her eyes moved to her cell phone, lying abandoned on the counter, turned off so that Tamesine couldn’t have it traced. Although she’d told Mies that she was going to contact his people and bring them in, it had just been her fear and desperation speaking.
No, she would perform the ritual just as she had designed it. And may the gods in all the heavens have mercy on them. Hell, if they were vengeful, they mi
ght even take her too!
After another long sip of the chocolate goodness, she wondered, if the powers-that-be took her too, would there be chocolate on the spiritual plane? Would she even be sent there with Mies? Was a human allowed to go there after death?
“Oh, this is all so crazy,” she moaned out loud.
“Oh, you bet it is.”
Startled, Sarah looked up. Naji stood behind her, twirling her keys on her finger.
“I knocked, but you didn’t hear me. Then I heard you speak, so I used my key. Hey, love.”
“Hi. Um, how did the night go?”
“De-lish-us! If I didn’t know better, I’d think that he was cut out of heavenly cloth and made just for me. It was a dream, Sarah. I think I could fall in love with him.”
Sarah’s heart skipped beats. This couldn’t have been worse. She stepped off of her sofa.
“Naj, you know that he might not be able to stay here? In the U.S., I mean.”
“Oh, I know that I might never see him again. It’s okay, though. We had a wonderful night and that is enough for me. I mean, I’d love to be with him again, I understand that he might not be able to come back, but I’ll always have these amazing memories.”
Moving close, Sarah studied Naji’s face and her eyes. Did she mean it?
She meant it, she really was all right with this man that she thought she could love disappearing forever. Sighing, Sarah walked over to the counter to fix Naji a cup of hot chocolate. So Mies had successfully compelled her memories to make the possible loss of Nikolai acceptable to Naji without destroying her.
“Thank you, Mies,” she whispered as she built a tower of whipped cream exactly the way that Naji liked it.
“What was that, hon?” Naji asked as she slid onto one of Sarah’s tall counter chairs.
“Nothing, nothing at all. Here.”
“Ummm. Devastating sex and a mountain of whipped cream. This is a happy girl.”
